- w ' »' 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA, 



g 






- • - ■ 







THE 



DESTINY OF RUSSIA, 



AS FORETOLD BY GOD'S PROPHETS, 



TOGETHER WITH AN OUTLINE OP THE FUTURE MOVEMENTS AND 
DESTINY OF 



ENGLAND, GERMANY, PERSIA, AFRICA, 



AND THE JEWS. 



BY THETA. 



CHICAGO: 
THOMAS WILSON, 188 East Monroe Street 




> 



? 

i 


frSd ^ ,^ ; ^ ' MME,JS5HCE0C " Y 


tirciiKi , S C Y T H 

T OM S IC 

V * /-- >'" 


I U K 

: 1 li K 9 p i s i<!\ 

' < -,C ... 


1 


" t*' ',£ ^ir^ tubal r £^ 


v V. S TAN 'KASTKRX. ' 


I S E S I-As 


% 


LIB. ,v^/^-w~~/ '.' \ E RS1A 


Tl'RKESTANN 

>. \ ;■- E_.J$I 


P I R E 

— -■, C H I >' A 


/ A 

¥ Creat 

■ -■'"" 


F « >A ,:GTPI \\x!f 


^^ XD() STAX 




§L > 


i /* : N^S) '\ /' 


\h\ ) y . ; 


; \ 


____' "vl C_._ - SE y -6 .;■;,■■.' ■ 


, A\ ; 




.. ^ x^ y.v/;/jA' o ( ea x 


^v ; C ! 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 

M. WILSON, 

a the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



LC Control Number 



tmp96 027440 



PREFACE. 



In undertaking the task of setting forth the Destiny of Russia, and 
other existing powers, we avow our utter inability to shed a ray of 
certain light upon so important a subject, unless it had first been re- 
vealed from heaven. He who knoweth the end from the beginning 
has graciously made known in His holy word, events yet future ; or 
in other words, He has, by His Prophets, written beforehand the his- 
tory of Russia, England, and other powers, so far, at least, as they 
stand related to His ancient people Israel. 

Seeing that the whole world was being stirred by reason of the war 
between Russia and Turkey, and hearing so many opinions expressed 
as to the final outcome, we felt impelled to present in a brief way, 
God's testimony upon the subject. That this testimony will be re 
ceived by all, we do not expect. As we draw nearer to the end of the 
Gentile age, we find the community of Infidels being largely augment 
ed. From these we expect nothing but ridicule. God, with them, is 
but a myth, hence any communication purporting to come from Him 
can have no weight. But there is another class whose faith takes hold 
of God as Abraham's did. These will neither reject nor scoff" at the 
testimony of God, but will receive it gladly, especially seeing that it 
tells of a glorious reign of righteousness and peace, jnst beyond the 
troubled sea that is even now beginning to strike terror into the hearts 
of millions. 

In preparing our little work, we acknowledge with gratitude, the 
help we have received from such writers as J. A. Begg, Dr. Seiss, Mr 
Trotter, and others, from whose works we have occasionally made lib! 
eral extracts. 



IV. PKEEACE. 

If a single soul shall be separated from the world, and drawn to> 
Christ the Savior, as a result of our feeble efforts to present God's truth 
concerning the near future, we shall be more than repaid for all our 
labor. That the Lord may bless the work so as to redound in some 
measure to His own glory, is the humble prayer of 

THE AUTHOR. 



EXPLANATION OF MAP. 

Yellow indicates the present and future possessions of Russia, to- 
gether with those of her allies at the time of the confederacy. 

Pink indicates the same for England, Russia's great opponent. 

The Bible names are introduced, showing the original location of 
Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah, etc., in Asia Minor, not 
far from the Caucasian Mountains, together with the direction of their 
spreading to the North, North-east and North-west. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPHETIC STUDY. 

Consequences of its neglect — The dream of unwatcliful virgins — The 
Millennium, and how it will be ushered in — The abundance of 
Prophecy — Objections to its study answered — Its literal fulfil 
ment 20 

CHAPTER II. 

THE ISRAELITES, AS RELATED TO PROPHECY IN THE PAST. 

The destiny of all nations interwoven with that of Israel — Israel's 
history foretold by Moses — The Seventy Years captivity — Their 
return and subsequent punishment by Antiochus Epiphanes — 
Overthrow and destruction of Jerusalem — A brief History of the 
persecution of the Jews from A. D. 70 to modern times — Their 
identity and worship still preserved — Our indebtedness to them — 
Signs of great changes 36 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ISRAELITES AS RELATED TO PROPHECY IN THE FUTURE. 

Israel to be converted — Testimony as to their future regathering to 
the Holy Land — Their wonderful preservation — Signs of the 
Times — Judgments to precede — Results of their final re-settle- 
ment 56 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 

Changes already in progress — What the Eastern Question is — Tur- 
key doomed — Russia's ancient and settled policy — Napoleon 



VI. CONTENTS. 

Bonaparte's prophecy — The declaration of Alexander II — The 
famous "Will of Peter the Great — The time to favor Zion near — 
Final settlement of the Eastern Question in Palestine . . 67 

CHAPTER V. 

AN UNFULFILLED PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. 

A translation of Ezekiel xxxviii. and xxxix. by Isaac Leeser, an Is- 
raelite, accompanied with variable readings from the Douay and 
Septuagint versions 74 

CHAPTER VI. 

IDENTIFICATION OF THE POWERS. 

Modern Powers with ancient names — The great confederacy — Criti- 
cism on " the chief prince," — Identification of Gog and Magog — 
of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal — of Persia and Ethiopia — of Libya t 
Gomer and Togarmah — of Sheba, Dedan, the Merchants of Tar- 
shish and the Young Lions thereof — Summary . . 92. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE PROPHECY EXPLAINED. 

The Emperor of Russia the great leader — The hook of six teeth — 
Fulfilment still future — Significance of recent events, and what we 
may expect — Absorption of petty states — Germany and other 
allies of Russia — Their intent and how met by England — Fearful 
judgments from God — The allied armies completely destroyed — 
Effect of the news — Christ's coming and the speedy deliverance of 
Israel 108 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The hope of Israel realized — The final destiny of Russia, Germany, 
England and all other nations — The " Lord's prayer " answered 
— Christ's coming near — A warning to the unconverted — A 
parting word to those in Christ — Appendix . . . 11$ 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPHETIC STUDY. 

Inasmuch as the evidence we shall adduce for our 
conclusions respecting the future movements of Rus- 
sia, and other powers, is based upon the prophecies 
of the Bible, and knowing, as we do, that there is a 
wide-spreading skepticism in the world relative to 
the importance of prophetic study we deem it proper 
at the outset to sa,y a few words upon this subject* 

Prophecy itself is, in part, God's testimony to 
the world — a testimony indeed of warning and of 
terror, fitly represented by Ezekiel's roll, written 
within and on the outside, and full of mourning,, 
lamentation, and woe. And, in fact, one of the sad- 
dest consequences of the general neglect of the 
prophetic word has been that, instead of bearing in 
the world's ears continually this solemn and mourn- 
ful testimony as to the world's course and end, the 
church has chimed in with Satan's lullaby of 
"Peace, peace," by which he soothes this poor 
guilty world into deeper slumber ; while God's 
judgments, alas I by which it is even now being 
overtaken, slumber not. The world dreams of a 
golden age, a period of peace and plenty — of liberty 



8 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

and good government, drawing nigh ; audit labors, 
as it has done for so many ages, to hasten its arri- 
val. The unwatchful virgins, too, have slept or 
slumbered, instead of waking the live-long night to 
meet the Bridegroom at his coming; and they, too, 
have had their dreams, and have fancied the grad- 
ual and peaceful approach of the same blissful 
period. And while the world has sought to expe- 
dite its arrival by all the means and appliances of 
philosophy and science, and political economy, and 
a philanthropy having these for its foundation, how 
many professors of Christianity have added to 
these the Gospel, and have thought thus to perfect 
the machinery by which this guilty, miserable world 
is to be brought back to universal purity and joy. 
Yes, and if it should be urged, as it doubtless would 
by some, that Christianity should be placed in the 
forefront, and all other things be only considered 
as subsidiary forces in the contest, what have you 
gained ? The world and the church are still joined 
in one common phalanx, to fight one common bat- 
tle, animated by one common hope of victory, and 
ensuring rest and peace and contentment in this 
world below. All join in putting far off the evil 
day, or in denying that there is such a day ap- 
proaching. 

Are we denying, then, that there is a day of uni- 
versal peace and blessedness yet to dawn upon this 
oppressed and groaning earth ? God forbid ! There 
is a millennium yet to come ; a period of universal 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. VJ 

righteousness and joy, brighter than any that man's 
hopes have pictured — brighter than any that even 
Christians have anticipated ; a period in. which men 
shall, indeed, " beat their swords into plowshares, 
and their spears into pruning hooks ;" in which 
u nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more ;" but when 
*' the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all 
flesh shall see it together ;" when " they shall not 
hurt nor destroy in all God's holy mountain ;" when 
" the earth shall be tilled with the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea." But this period 
is not to be ushered in as many of our spiritual 
guides teach,* by the progress of society, or the 
march of intellect, or the advancement of science ; 
not by the spread of modern opinions, or the rise 
and growth of liberal institutions ; nor by means 
of schools, and hospitals, and peace societies, and 
temperance societies ; no, nor even by means of 
Sunday schools, and tract societies, and missions 
to the heathen, however good in their places these 
may be (and we have reason to thank God in many 
respects for them) : It is not by these means that 
Satan's kingdom will be overthrown — that the world 
will be delivered from his dire oppression, and the 
universal reign of righteousness be. introduced ; but 
by the coming of oar Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. 

* Witness the declarations of Henry Ward Beecher, David Swing, 
H. W. Thomas, Kobert Gollyer, and other influential ministers who 
entertain this view. 



10 THE DESTINY OE 1 RUSSIA. 

And this is the one grand event placed before us in 
the " more sure word of prophecy" — an event which 
men have contrived, indeed, to put off to an indefi- 
nitely distant period, but which in Scripture is ever 
represented as the one impending event, placed as 
such before both saints and sinners. 

Men have taught that this event is certainly at the 
distance of a thousand years. T$ut Christ says, 
u Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not 
the angels of heaven, but my Father only." 

One consideration that can hardly fail to have 
weight with those who really value God's Word, is 
the very large proportion of it which is occupied 
with prophetic subjects. From Isaiah to Malachi y 
all is prophecy ; to say nothing of a great deal in 
preceding portions, such as Jacob's prophecy in 
Genesis — those of Moses in Leviticus and Deuter- 
onomy — as well as numerous passages in the books 
of Samuel, the Kings, and the Chronicles. A great 
part of the Psalms, too, are prophetic in their char- 
acter. 

Then, as to the New Testament itself, one entire 
book — the closing one — is prophecy. We have 
prophecies in the epistles of Jude, James, and Peter. 
Paul's notable prophecy in his second epistle to the 
Thessalonians is well known, besides others in his 
other epistles. And as to the gospels, which of 
them is there that contains no prophecy ? Matt, 
xiii., xxiv., and xxv. ; Mark xiii. ; Luke xxi. ; 
and John xiv.-xvi., are the chief prophecies of the 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 11 

great prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And 
do we well to turn aside from these, as from wri- 
tings of little (if any) interest or moment to us ? 
Should we deem such conduct in a child commend- 
able, or the reverse ? Suppose he should receive a 
long letter from an absent parent, a great part of 
which is devoted to the child's instruction on a cer- 
tain class of subjects, what should we think of his 
conduct, if he hastily passed over the whole of this r 
scarcely reading it at all, to pay exclusive attention 
to some parts of the letter, which, for some reason 
or other, he preferred ? Would he be honoring his 
father by such a course ? And are we honoring our 
Father, who has graciously caused the Holy Scrip- 
tures to be written, by neglecting, as many do, the 
prophetic portions of them ? 

Some say that the study of prophecy is merely 
speculative. But this is untrue. All anticipations 
of the future drawn from any other source are mere 
speculations. Those actually drawn from the pro- 
phetic Word of God are sober realities, certain facts. 
And as to its not being practical, as some allege, 
the truth is, there is nothing more so. 

There are two objections, however, on which it 
may be well to bestow a little attention. One is,. 
the extravagancies into which, as it is alleged, many 
have been led by directing their attention to unful- 
filled prophecy. We are told of the Anabaptists; 
and Fifth Monarchy-men of a by gone age ; we are 
told of Southcote, of Irving, and of the Mormonites 



12 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

of the present day. We are told of these, and 
warned against all attempts to study prophecy, by 
the fearful errors into which these parties have fall- 
en. But let us look at this objection. If it proves 
anything at all, it proves too much. We are not to 
study prophecy, we are told, because fanatical mis- 
guided men have made bad use of it. But if the 
abuse of anything be a good argument against the 
use of it, it is not from prophetic Scripture alone that 
we must turn aside, but from the whole Word of 
God. What Scripture is there that has not been 
perverted by misguided men, or wilful deceivers, to 
purposes of evil ? Then, besides, all or nearly 
all those who are held up as beacons to warn us 
against the study of prophecy pretended to have 
received new revelations themselves. They set up 
to be prophets. It is not the sober, serious, patient, 
prayerful study of what is already revealed in God's 
Word that characterizes fanatical teachers on pro- 
phecy; but the pretension to having themselves re- 
ceived new revelations. It is not that we wish you 
to be prophets, or wish you to receive anything that 
any one pretending to be a prophet would teach 
you. It is to guard you against all such delu- 
sions that we invite you to render your most serious 
attention to the teaching of the prophetic pages of 
God's holy Word. And the fact is, that the objec- 
tion we are considering, not only proves too much 
for the objectors, but also proves the very opposite 
of what it is brought to prove. Instead of proving 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 13 

that prophecy should be neglected, it proves that it 
should be studied; calmly indeed, with prayer — in 
entire dependence upon the Spirit of God, but still 
studied. What is it that gives such deceivers as 
have been referred to the fearful power they pos- 
sess ? It is the ignorance — the wide- spread igno- 
rance — of professing Christians on the subjects 
those deceivers dilate upon. Where is it that a 
man is most liable to be led astray ? In the path 
he continually treads — a path with every step of 
which he is as familiar as with his own fireside % 
No ; the night may be very dark, and the path very 
intricate ; but he knows too well to be in it led 
astray. It is in some unknown region, where every 
path and every lane is new to him, and where dark- 
ness moreover settles and broods over the entire 
scene. It is there that the ignis fatuus leads the- 
traveller into a bog, or a false treacherous guide 
conducts him, through winding paths, into a den of 
thieves. And so with the Word of God. It is not 
by means of those parts with which we are best ac- 
quainted, that Satan and his emissaries succeed in 
leading us astray. But if there be any large field 
of truth with which men are not conversant ; some 
large tract of Scripture consigned, as the prophetic 
parts are generally, to oblivion and neglect ; there 
it is that the tempter puts forth his skill. By call- 
ing attention to some striking part of these neglected 
portions, he arouses the attention of neglectful mul- 
titudes, and makes them feel how ignorant they have 



14 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

been; and they do actually come to see some truths 
which they have not seen before. But alas ! it is 
only that these truths are used by Satan as his 
gilded bait to disguise the concealed hook of some 
deadly error, which he contrives to hide amid the 
long neglected and now apparently recovered truth. 
It is the neglect of the Word of God that throws 
the door open to the enemy. It is the neglect of the 
prophetic Word that makes professing Christians 
the easy prey of any deceiver who pretends to pro- 
phetic light. The Lord grant us to take warning 
by the past. Having our loins girt about with 
truth, and taking the words of the Spirit, which is 
the Word of God, may we be kept from all the wiles 
of the devil ; may we be enabled to withstand in 
the evil day, and having done all, may we stand. 

But there is another objection more subtile, and 
perhaps with a certain class more influential than 
the one we have been considering. It is this. It is 
alleged that the chief, if not the only, use of pro- 
phecy is after the event, to demonstrate the truth of 
God, and evince his faithfulness in fulfilling his 
word. It is said, "Ah, but you cannot understand 
prophecy till after the occurrence of the event it 
foretells. This is the only key by which it can be 
unlocked, and then it will be seen how God has 
spoken, and has fulfilled his word. But it is of no 
use examining prophecy till then." Such is the ob- 
jection. That fulfilled prophecy has the use af- 
firmed, one would not, of course, think of denying. 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 15 

Fulfilled prophecy has this use undoubtedly. But 
to say of unfulfilled prophecy, that its chief use is 
after the event is to go directly in the face of the 
plainest declarations of God's word. See 2 Peter i. 
19 ; u We have also a more sure word of prophecy, 
whereunto ye do well to take heed." When ? 
When the events have been accomplished, and the 
light thus shed upon the prophecy makes plain that 
God has spoken the truth ? Is that the time ? No ; 
" whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a 
light that shineth in a darJc place, until the day 
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." * The 
use of prophecy is that of a lamp, to light the trav- 
eller's feet along the dark and dreary path. It is 
not intended for a candle to be held up to the sun, 
to make it manifest that the sun shines at noonday. 
As some one has in substance, remarked, if the 
chief use of unfulfilled prophecy be after the event, it 
must be either to the righteous or to the wicked that 
It is thus useful. It cannot be to the wicked ; it is 
too late to be of use to them, when its predictions 
have been accomplished in their destruction. The 
flood proved the truth of God's word by Noah ; 
but it was too late to be of any advantage to the 
guilty world, who perished for not having heeded 
the warning before. And as to the righteous, sure- 

* Or ratker, " until the (Millennial) clay dawn, and the day star 
(Christ) arise. In your hearts knowing this first," etc. It does not 
refer to conversion, as many have supposed, but to a period prophe- 
sied of ; beyond the " until " season. 



16 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

ly they don't need the fulfilment of prophecy to 
satisfy them that God speaks the truth. We are 
not Christians unless we do believe this. No, dear 
reader, we do not need prophecy to be fulfilled, in 
order to certify us of the truth of God. But we do 
need all the light it sheds upon our present path, 
and upon the whole scene around, to guide us 
through its intricate mazes to that city of habitation 
which it reveals to us as the home of our weary 
hearts, and our eternal dwelling-place of joy. 

Were attention more generally given to the man- 
ner in which prophecy has hitherto received its 
accomplishment, we may easily believe that there 
would be more correct opinions formed of a large 
portion of scripture, now perverted at will by 
multitudes whose interpretations have not the 
slightest regard to the language of the text. It is 
thus that expositions, as various as they are fanci- 
ful, are put upon the most obvious declarations of 
God's word, the meaning of which it would be 
almost impossible to miss, did we not prefer our 
own wisdom in discovering some hidden sense, or 
in substituting our own notions, rather than study 
to ascertain the mind of the Holy Spirit. 

In maintaining the literal fulfilment of prophecy,, 
we are not, however, to be understood as denying 
that the prophetic scriptures contain many figures, 
which are only to be explained as figurative lan- 
guage should always be. We only ask in behalf 
of divine predictions, the same principle of inter- 



THE DESTINY OE RUSSIA. 17 

pretation tliat is extended to other compositions, 
inspired as well as uninspired. The occasional 
introduction of figures in the gospels or epistles, 
for example, is never advanced as a warrant for 
departure from the principle of literal interpretation 
as the ordinary mode of determining their meaning 
or of ascertaining their objects. Thus, although 
the apostle Paul speaks of the posterity of Abraham 
(Rom. xi. 17-24) under the figure of " branches 
broken off," and to be yet again " graffed into their 
own olive tree" no one imagines that the use of such 
a figure forms a reason for denying that the literal 
Israel is there meant. 

Yet such is the very treatment given to the Old 
Testament prophecies, concerning which many seem 
to consider themselves as not only at liberty to 
make anything or everything of the figures they 
contain, but even to use the plain unfigured pre- 
dictions in a manner precisely similar. Thus, by 
the system of spiritualizing, statements the most 
definite and precise have attributed to them a vague- 
ness which leaves every man the right of putting 
upon them whatever meaning his inclination or 
his fancy may suggest. Fidelity to the Word of 
God surely requires, that where figures do not 
occur, figurative interpretations be not introduced; 
and where figures are employed, that they be 
really interpreted as such, and not as something to 
be fashioned at our pleasure, without regard to the 
end for which they are given. 



18 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

In every case, except that of interpreting God's 
word, it would be considered as the highest injustice 
to an author to change entirely the meaning of the 
language ordinarily employed, simply because 
tigures occasionally occurred; nor would any one 
consider himself warranted to interpret even the 
figures themselves otherwise than in consistency 
with the connecting statements given, discriminating 
the one from the other. Yet without the least 
pretence to Divine authority for the principle, 
statements in scripture, given wholly or partially 
in unfigured language, are equally subjected to the 
spiritualizing process, and meanings extracted 
which nothing less than a new revelation could 
enable the reader to discover; or rather, it may be 
said, which of themselves constitute a new revelation, 
having never been in the written language of these 
statements, to be in any way elicited from it. 

In endeavoring to ascertain the meaning of scrip- 
ture prophecy, it is important to observe, that, from 
the very nature of most of its predictions, they are 
only susceptible of a literal interpretation. Were 
scripture readers to attend with care to the context, 
and even to circumstances introduced in the various 
prophecies sometimes spiritualized, they would find 
in these alone, checks sufficient to prevent such a 
perversion of their meaning and design. But it is 
also farther to be observed, that to explain away all 
the predictions concerning the glory of Christ, is to 
justify his rejection by the Jews, notwithstanding 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 19 

of the plain declarations of his humility and suffer- 
ings. For, if we are at liberty to spiritualize all 
the prophecies which foretell his reign in glory, how 
can we blame them for adopting a similar mode of 
interpreting other predictions not more clear and 
far less numerous ? 

Besides, this is a method of interpretation which 
seems not only repugnant to reason, but is quite 
inconsistent with that literal fulfilment which 
prophecy has hitherto received. If all past predic- 
tions, except where figures are obviously used, have 
had their fulfilment literally, even when the minute- 
ness of prophecy was extreme, on what principle 
of interpretation is a mode of fulfilment yet unpre- 
cedented now to be expected ? We can point to a 
long series of predictions which have been literally 
fulfilled, and to others which are being so at this 
very day, in their utmost minutiae, and can see no 
reason to suppose that those which, for aught we 
can tell, may relate to the ensuing month, or the 
ensuing year, are not to have a literal fulfilment 
also, as no intimation is given by the spirit of 
prophecy of any period at which this mode of their 
accomplishment shall cease. Thus alone, indeed, 
can the criterion divinely given, by which to dis- 
tinguish the true from the false prophet, be of any 
avail: " If thou say in thine heart, How shall we 
know the word which the Lord hath not spoken ? 
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, 
if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the 



20 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the 
prophet hath spoken it presumptuously" (Deut. 
xxvii. 21, 22). And the minuteness with which 
Prophecy has hitherto been fulfilled, proves how 
safely the rule may be applied. The past dealings 
of God in this respect — which show the perfect 
correspondence between the prediction and its 
accomplishment — have however been much neg- 
lected; and hence, perhaps, the unwillingness so 
often displayed believingly to receive the promises 
he has bestowed, without the intervention of our 
limitations ; and hence also, our unbelieving fears 
to submit Divine predictions concerning the future 
to the ordeal which Jehovah himself has prescribed. 
In conclusion then, let us remember that prophecy 
is not designed to furnish food for curious imagina- 
tions, or a field for the exercise of intellectual 
power. It is addressed to faith, to be by it simply 
received as God's word, and thus to become incor- 
porated with the very existence of the inner man, 
humbling us at God's feet, weaning us from the 
world, enabling us alike to despise its attractions, 
and to be quiet and peaceful amid its convulsions 
and its overturns, knowing beforehand what will 
be the end of its vaunting, proud career, and how 
God has prepared for the safety and blessing of his 
own — some above and others amid the widespread, 
general crash. 



7h 
v as 

H 

o T3 
°P 



^2 



>T3 'O 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ISRAELITES, AS RELATED TO PROPHECY IN THE 
PAST. 

Having shown, as we trust, the importance of pro- 
phetic study, if we would be enlightened relative to 
events yet future ; and having shown also that the 
only way to understand the prophets is to take them 
at their word, literally, except where figures are 
obviously used, we now proceed a step farther and 
assert that the history and destiny of all nations 
who have been made the subject of prophecy is so 
interwoven with that of the nation of Israel that the 
two cannot well be separated. In fact, so important 
a place does Israel occupy among the nations in the 
estimation of God, that even in the days of Peleg 
(several generations before Abraham), ' ' when the 
Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, 
when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the 
bounds of the people according to the number of the 
•children of Israel " (Gen. x. 25), That which formed 
the central and controlling thought in his arrange- 
ments was his foreknowledge of the number of the 
children of Israel. Israel was dear to him above all 
the other nations — " His portion, and the lot of his 
inheritance," The nations were to be both placed 
and governed in relation to Israel; and hence in this 



22 THE DESTINY OF EXISSIA. 

primary appointment of the bounds or limits of their 
respective dominions, all was settled with reference 
to Israel. Could anything more emphatically declare 
the pre-eminent place which Israel occupies in Divine 
counsels touching this earth — its government — and 
its inhabitants. 

In consequence of God having made Israel the 
centre of his earthly government, we find that even 
the profane history of nations centres round it. 
" Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, 
all contend for Israel's land, are known in connexion 
with it, or actually get their full imperial possession 
and character at the time they acquired possession 
of it — we do not say by gaining possession of it — but 
at the epoch at which they did. Though clouds of 
dark traditions, scarce pierced by modern researches, 
hang over all the rest of the nations, and obscure 
their history while revealing their existence, in the 
neighborhood of Israel all is light. The light of 
Israel's history is shed on all around them. It is 
preserved almost with modern accuracy, when a few 
fragments scarce rescue from entire oblivion other 
ancient histories. We have to disentomb the 
remains of the Thebes and the Ninevehs to get at 
the history of their ancient monarchs, and to know 
their dynasties ; while, by God's providence, that 
which gives some historic data to the glories oi 
Mizraim and Ashur, confirms in its detail that of 
which we have already the minutest particulars in 
Israel's authentic history. We find, in pictures yet 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 23 

fresh on the lore-covered walls of the country of the 
Pharaohs, the very kinds of overseers over the Jews 
making their bricks, of which Moses speaks in the 
books of Exodus. Modern research alone has given 
the place and importance to those conntries which 
the scriptures had already assigned them." 

In the purposes of God then, Israel occupies a 
central point, around which all other nations revolve. 
This may seem strange to some, in view of the fact 
that Israel's land has been so long a wilderness, her 
cities a heap of ruins, and herself in captivity, 
whilst other nations have been exalted far above her, 
ruling her with impunity. Yet even this condition 
of affairs is but another proof of the truth of our 
proposition. God raised up these Gentile powers 
and temporarily transferred to their keeping his 
people Israel, who on account of their sinfulness had 
wearied his patience, and secured his displeasure. As 
a punishment then he gave them into captivity, but 
not an unending one. Far from it. In the mean- 
time therefore, the history of Israel is cotempora- 
neous with that of his captors, and oppressors. 
And if we would learn what the destiny of existing 
nations shall be, we must first learn what God's 
purposes are relative to Israel in the future. It 
seems to be a settled law that Israel's humiliation 
shall result in Gentile exaltation, but Israel's 
exaltation in Gentile humiliation. When Israel, 
as a nation, were in favor with God, he blessed them 
abundantly, and subdued all the nations round 



24 THE DESTINY 0E EUSSIA. 

about to their will. But when Israel rebelled 
against him, he exalted their enemies far above 
them, and as a consequence Israel has been sorely 
despised and persecuted, and the pride and power of 
the Gentiles has known no bounds. 

This state of things will cease ; in short, it will be 
reversed. Israel, we shall find is destined to recover 
their lost estate, and take rank once more among 
the nations of earth as the head and not the tail. 
But more of this hereafter. 

Having shown' how closely the history and destiny 
of the nations is interwoven with that of Israel, the 
reader will readily perceive the importance of first 
getting a clear scriptural idea of God's future pur- 
poses relative to this ancient people, and of the land 
he gave to their fathers. This, coupled with such 
prophecies as we can find relative to Gentile powers, 
will lead us to a correct solution of the Eastern 
question. 

As a preparatory step then, we must glance rap- 
idly at the past history of this wonderful people, 
and learn how perfectly the Word of God has 
received its accomplishment during the season of their 
great chastisement. 

We need not recount God's dealings with them in 
their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, nor the 
many deliverances he wrought out for them after- 
wards. We need not relate to you the flourishing 
state of their kingdom under David and Solomon, 
nor how the nation became divided under Rehoboam, 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 25 

ten of the tribes organizing a separate kingdom 
under Jeroboam, This is history familiar to all who 
have but a smattering of Bible knowledge. 

Passing on then, we will introduce the predictions 
of Moses concerning the future destiny of Israel as 
recorded in Deut. xxviii. After recounting the 
blessings that would come upon them in case of 
obedience, he proceeded to relate a series of curses 
which would surely overtake them in case of their 
disobedience. Among other things he says, "The 
stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee 
very high ; and thou shalt come down very low. He 
shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; 
he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail." He 
also declares that the Lord should *' scatter them 
among all people, from one end of the earth even 
unto the other . . . and among these nations 
shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of 
thy foot have rest; but the Lord shall give thee 
there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and 
sorrow of mind : and thy life shall hang in doubt 
before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and 
shalt have none assurance of thy life : in the morning 
thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! and at 
even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! 
for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, 
and for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt 
see." 

In order that we may realize how literally these 
fearful predictions have been fulfilled let us briefly 



26 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

trace the history of this people, recalling some of 
the most prominent persecutions that haye overtaken 
them. 

In the days of Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, 
God gave up the ten tribes who had previously 
revolted, into the hands of this Gentile king, who 
carried them into captivity, from which they have 
never returned. 

About 134 years after this, Nebuchadnezzar, king 
of Babylon, overthrew the kingdom of Judah, slew 
the king's sons, the chief priest, and all the nobility, 
together with a multitude of others who were 
reckoned as the principal and official persons of the 
kingdom. The remainder were carried captive to 
Babylon. Thus in darkness and in blood the sun of 
David's kingdom set. Ezekiel, a prophet of that 
time, referring to this great overthrow says, " Thus 
saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take 
off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him 
that is low, and abase him that is high. I will over- 
turn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more 
until he come whose right it is : and I will give it 
him " (Ezek. xxi. 26, 27). Thus clearly foretelling 
the abasement of Zedekiah, the last king of David's 
line that ever sat on David's throne, and also pre- 
dicting the continued overturning of the royal king- 
dom and diadem until the coming of Him " whose 
right it is," (see Luke i. 32, 33) even Jesus, to whom 
it should eventually be given. 

The appointed term of their seventy years cap- 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 27 

tivity being ended, Ezra and Nehemiah led the 
people back again to Jerusalem, rebuilt its walls 
and gates, and erected also a temple for the worship 
of the Most High God, But God's judgments again 
overtook them, for in the days of Antiochus Epi- 
phanes (B. C. 166) their city was abandoned to the 
fury of the Syrian army for three days, during which 
time over 40,000 persons were slain, and nearly an 
equal number sold for slaves. The impious monarch 
also forced his way into the temple, and even pene- 
trated into the holy place; tore off the golden 
ornaments, carried away the sacred treasures and 
utensils, and in order to offer the greatest insult to 
the Jewish religion, sacrificed a large hog on the 
altar of burnt offering. 

About two years subsequent to this, Autiochus 
despatched Appollonius, governor of Syria, at the 
head of twenty -two thousand men, commanding him 
to destroy Jerusalem, massacre the men, and sell the 
women and children for slaves. The king's officer 
waited until the sabbath day, when the people were 
assembled for the solemn worship of God, when he 
executed his horrid commands with unrelenting 
barbarity. The city was plundered, set on fire, and 
its walls demolished. 

Not yet satiated with blood, this cruel persecutor 
issued an edict to the effect that all within his 
dominions should worship no gods but those of the 
king. The statue of Jupiter Olympus was set up on 
the altar of burnt offering, and all who refused to 



28 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

offer their adorations were either -massacred, or com- 
pelled to endure the most exquisite tortures. The 
king himself visited the city of Jerusalem in order 
to personally superintend the execution of his de- 
crees. 

At a later period (B. C. 65) the Jews were visited 
by a Roman army, during which over twelve thous- 
and persons were slain, and many perished by 
suicide. Subsequently, Herod, a stranger and Idu- 
mean, ascended the throne of Judea, and proved to 
be a most cruel and relentless tyrant. He caused 
many to be put to death, and exhibited a marked 
contempt for the Jewish religion and laws. He it 
was who caused the children of Bethlehem to be 
slain in expectation of cutting off Jesus the new born 
king. The next great judgment that overtook this 
doomed nation was that which occurred A. D. 70, 
when Titus, the Roman general, surrounded the city 
of Jerusalem with his legions, and after a long seige 
captured and destroyed it. It is estimated that 
1,100,000 Jews perished at this time. 

About sixty years subsequent to this great over- 
throw, one Bar-Chochab (son of a star) arose, and 
was accepted by the nation as the Messiah. Vast 
armies followed his leadership, but met with final 
defeat, some 580,000 Jews perishing by the sword, 
and multitudes more being sold into slavery. 

In Persia, (A. D. 200) Sapor, the king, commenced 
a violent persecution against them, which was incited 
by the iealousv of his subjects. 



THE DESTINY OP EUSSIA. 29> 

Mahomet, (A. D. 612) after flattering them awliile r 
finally became their inveterate foe, and turning his 
arms against them slew vast multitudes, drove them 
into exile, confiscated their estates, and compelled 
all who remained to pay the most exhorbitant 
tribute. 

During the disputes respecting image worship in 
the eighth century, such as would not bow to the 
cross and images were subjected to the greatest 
vexations. In 1055, the king of Grenada became so 
incensed against them that 100,000 families were 1 
reduced to the greatest extremities. During the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Jews suffered the 
greatest indignities from the Crusaders, who tram- 
pled upon them, extorted their money, and put them 
to death, on their march to and from the Holy Land. 

In the first crusade, 1500 were massacred at Stras- 
burg, 1300 at Mayence, and 1200 were slain in Batavia., 
Women at Treves, seeing the Crusaders approach, 
killed their children, preferring this to having them 
fall into the hands of the Crusaders. When Jeru- 
salem was taken, all the Jews were inhumanly mur- 
dered. In England, in 1189, when Richard I. ascen- 
ded the throne, the mob fell upon them, and put 
multitudes to death. From Henry III. they pur- 
chased an edict to preserve them from the outrages 
of the Crusaders. Some of the archbishops and 
bishops forbade any one T s selling them provisions 
on pain of ex-communication. They were often 
accused of the foulest crimes,- and though not found 



SO THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

guilty, were compelled to pay the most enormous 
fines. Seven hundred were massacred in London in 
1262, by the barons, to please the Londoners. King 
Edward I. passed many severe enactments against 
them, and drew from them several hundred thousand 
pounds. In 1287 he ordered all the Jews in the 
kingdom to be imprisoned and 280 to be executed in 
London, besides vast numbers in other cities; and 
in 1290 he ordered them all to be banished from the 
kingdom, never to return under pain of death. He 
seized their whole property, scarcely allowing them 
sufficient to bear their expences into other lands; 
the number expelled was 16,511. From this time 
they were shut out of England for 350 years. 

In France, under Louis IX., they were sold with 
the land on which they dwelt, and in the year 1238, 
during a violent persecution, 2500 Jews were put to 
death under the most cruel tortures. Soon after, 
they were all banished by Louis, from his dominions. 
They were recalled and then banished many times 
from that country. 

In Italy, Pope John XXII. , pretending that they 
affronted the holy cross, ordered their banishment 
from his territories, but recalled the edict for 100,000 
florins. 

The sufferings of the Jews in Spain, from the 
Crusaders, were probably greater than in any part 
of Europe. Their own writers indeed view them 
greater than their people were ever called to suffer 
since the destruction of Jerusalem. In Spain, too, 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 31 

they were accused of poisoning the rivers and wells, 
and 15,000 were in consequence put to death. In 
Spain the officers of the Inquisition brought about 
a terrible result upon the Jews, in which 2,000 were 
put to death, many were long imprisoned, and such 
as had their liberty were compelled to wear two red 
crosses on their garments, to show that they had 
escaped from the flames; 17,000 returned to the 
bosom of the Papal Church. In 1412, 16,000 Jews 
were forced to profess Popery. About 1472 they 
were barbarously massacred in the dominions of 
Venice. In 1472, Ferdinand and Isabella issued a 
fatal edict, which banished all the Jews, in four 
months, from Spain; 70,000 families, or 800,000 
persons, pursuant to this decree, left that beautiful 
kingdom amidst the greatest distress and suffering. 
Vast multitudes perished on their way to foreign 
countries. Such as reached them were in the deep- 
est distress, and many perished from famine and 
disease before they could find a settled abode. In 
Lisbon many fell a prey to the Inquisition. At 
Mentz, in Germany, 12,000 were killed on a charge 
of poisoning the fountains. In 1350, Louis, king of 
Hungary, banished them all from his dominions. 

The Jews, by an invasion of the Tartars in 1291, 
were driven from place to place, and robbed of their 
possessions. And during the wars of Tamerlane, in 
1500, all their schools were broken up, their learned 
men destroyed, and the whole people exceedingly 
impoverished. In Persia they suffered in 1666, under 



32 THE DESTINY OF KITSSIA. 

Shall Abbas II., a general massacre for three years. 
All, without distinction of age or sex, were de- 
stroyed without pity, who would not renounce their 
religion. The negroes in Africa have been found 
treating them also in the most contemptuous man- 
ner, calling them dogs. In the city of Nuremberg, 
they were not permitted to walk without a guide. 
At Augsburg they were suffered to- enter only at 
the price of a florin for every hour tliey wished to 
remain. In Frankfort, where they numbered some 
30,000, they were plundered and ridiculed, and shut 
up in one long narrow street, which was closed 
upon then at both ends, every night during divine 
service among others. In Prague, where they filled 
a third part of the city, they were exposed to the 
greatest insults and confined to the most degrading 
employments. By the popes of the sixteenth century 
they were treated with great severity. Pius V\ 
expelled them in 1569 from every part of the domin- 
ions, except Rome and Ancona. The Jews offered 
Charles Y. 800,000 crowns of gold if he would suffer 
them to return to Spain; but their offer was re- 
jected. In Spain and Portugal they lived only by 
dissimulating. Outwardly they were good Catho- 
lics, while they secretly practiced the Mosaic rites, 
and if at any time they were discovered they were 
at once put to the tortures of the Inquisition. The 
sufferings of the Jews in that horrid tribunal for 
three centuries, were beyond all description. In 
Holland, a fine of 1,000 florins was laid on the Jew 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 33 

wlio found the least fault with the government. In 
the Ottoman Empire they have ever been treated 
with the utmost contempt, paying a tax for the 
privilege of worshipping in their own way. In 
their ancient city of Jerusalem, they have for 1800 
years received nothing but oppression, ignominy 
and reproach. Sometimes they have for ages been 
entirely excluded from it, and not suffered to look 
at it from the distant mountains, and when permitted 
to reside there, have exhibited the most affecting 
spectacle of human wretchedness. 

To peruse details attending the numerous per- 
secutions of this people had we space to give them, 
would chill the blood of every reader. God's word 
concerning them has been literally fulfilled in the 
oft repeated cry of His people in the midst of their 
distresses — " Would God it were even!" or " Would 
God it were morning!" No rest have they had for 
the soles of their feet, but instead, they have been 
exiles and wanderers, suffering the utmost contempt 
and cruel persecutions of every nation on the face 
of the earth. Yet, strange to say, amid all these 
sufferings they have preserved the worship of the 
God of Israel, rejecting the vagaries and idolatry 
of Paganism, Eomanism, and other superstitions, 
at the expense of their lives. And although decree 
after decree has been issued for their extermination 
as a people, yet here they are, in the midst of all 
nations, speaking their languages, adopting many 
of their customs, but remaining still a distinct peo- 



34 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

pie. Whilst other nations have been lost, and their 
individuality gone, yet the Hebrew nation still lives, 
a monument of God's miraculous power, and an evi- 
dence of the truth of His word concerning them. 

Whatever prejudices men may entertain towards 
them, yet candor will compel them to admit that of 
all the nations of the earth, the Jewish nation has 
unquestionably been the largest blessing to the hu- 
man race. However much any nation may have 
been indebted to other nations, for arts and for sci- 
ence, for genius and for eloquence, for taste and for 
civilization, for riches or for jurisprudence, to the 
Jews all nations are indebted for a better light than 
the wisest of the heathen ever could discern, or the 
most enlightened of their philosophers ever did or 
could bestow. All Divine knowledge on that which 
most nearly concerns us, respecting our Maker or 
ourselves, our duty now and our happiness forever, 
.and that spiritual light which the most favored hu- 
man beings enjoy at this moment, God has vouch- 
safed to bestow through the Jewish prophets, Jew- 
ish evangelists and Jewish apostles. Our Lord 
himself, according to the flesh, was born of a Jew- 
ish mother, and lived and suffered, and wrought 
his mighty miracles, and died and rose again in 
Judea. Our daily spiritual food, and our richest 
inheritance of blessing came through this nation. 
Those churches which first adorned Christianity 
with unequalled piety and beauty, sprang up in 
Judea ; and through their lively faith and ardent 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 35 

love, the Gospel of Christ speedily spread through 
the Eoman Empire, and so has reached every Chris- 
tian heart. 

God has preserved this wonderful nation for a 
purpose. He has rich blessings in store for them. 
The cup of bitterness which they have drank will 
soon be taken from them and passed over to the 
lips of those who have so willingly persecuted them. 
It will, indeed, prove to be "a cup of trembling " 
to them, but they will be made to drink it never- 
theless. Isaiah li. 17-23. 

For a number of years past, there have been un- 
usual movements among this people, and among 
the nations concerning them. There is a growing 
interest manifested in their future welfare. Politi- 
cians even are beginning to speculate relative to the 
possibility of their restoration to the land of their 
fathers. The yoke which has so long borne them 
down has been lightened in some cases, and entire- 
ly removed in others. On every hand there are un- 
mistakable signs of great changes, so that were we 
to judge merely from a human standpoint, we might 
almost predict with certainty a complete revolution 
in Jewish affairs. But we are not left to specula- 
tion. We have the positive word of God to guide 
us, so that we may speak with certainty. Hence, 
students of the prophetic word, unlike politicians 
and others, wait not for the events predicted to near 
their fulfilment ere they declare their faith in them, 
but hundreds of years previous, when everything 



36 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

seems unpropitious from a human standpoint, they 
declare with confidence, what shall come to pass, 
basing their declarations entirely upon the unfail- 
ing word of God. 

Having traced the hand of God as shown in the 
past history of Israel, it will be our purpose next 
to introduce the testimony of the prophets and 
apostles as to their future, preparatory to learning 
what shall be the fate of the nations who become 
entangled in Israel's affairs. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ISRAELITES AS RELATED TO PROPHECY IN THE 
FUTURE, 

That the great bulk of the Israelitish race will yet 
be converted to Christ the Messiah, and be again 
grafted upon the olive tree of the spiritual Israel 
from which they have been broken off, is well agreed 
on all hands. Whitby says, " This hath been the 
constant doctrine of the Church of Christ, owned by 
the Greek and Latin fathers, and by all the com- 
mentators I have met with." The inspired declara- 
tions upon this subject are too explicit to be evaded. 
" All Israel shall be saved : as it is written, There 
shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn 
away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is my cov- 
enant unto them." 

That the scattered family of Jacob shall again be 
gathered, and nationally restored to the land of 
their fathers, is not very generally admitted. Some 
have no patience with such a theory, and sneeringly 
ask, What can be the object of such a restoration ? 
What end is it to answer % What purpose can it 
subserve ? For our own part we are heartily wil- 
ling to acquiesce in any arrangements the blessed 
Savior may make ; and we will at the same time 



38 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

persist in holding as the truth of God whatsoever 
we find clearly stated in his holy word, no matter 
where it may lead us. 

The first passage in the New Testament to which 
we refer is one uttered by the Savior himself, where 
he says, " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the 
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. " 
Take a plain common-sense view of this passage, 
and what does it mean ? The treading down of Je- 
rusalem can be nothing more nor less than the de- 
struction and desolation of the Jewish metropolis 
and state by the deportation of the Jewish people ? 
And what is the cessation of this treading down of 
the Jewish metropolis and state but the restoration 
of the Jewish people ? Who can make anything 
else out of it ? 

A second New Testament passage on the subject 
is that which we have already quoted, where Paul 
says, "All Israel shall be saved, as it is written, 
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall 
turn away ungodliness from Jacob." This is gen- 
erally understood as a spiritual salvation by con- 
version to Messiah. And a spiritual deliverance is 
certainly a prominent and controlling idea in the 
passage. It is expressly stated that one feature is 
the removal of ungodliness. But this interpretation 
by no means exhausts the passage. It has an ap- 
pendage in the succeeding verse which throws much 
additional light and consequence upon the predicted 
deliverance. Paul says that this salvation is just 



THE DESTHSTY OF KUSSIA. 39 

what was included in God's ancient covenant with 
the Jewish fathers. U A11 Israel shall be saved, for 
this is God's covenant unto them when he shall take 
away their sins." * 

In relation to this covenant of God with the fath- 
ers, we take the broad ground, and no man can 
overturn it, that it has never yet been even nearly 
fulfilled. Its great fullness is still matter of prom- 
ise, to be verified hereafter, when Christ shall " come 
a second time unto salvation." That covenant char- 
ters to them the land from the river of Egypt to the 
great river Euphrates, for their everlasting posses- 
sion ; which has never yet been made good. That 
covenant guarantees unto them a national existence 
and glory as lasting as the great orbs of heaven, 
which yet remains to be fulfilled. Wherever the 
terms of that covenant are given, from first to last 
these are two of its prominent and immutable fea- 
tures. And if " all Israel is to be saved," according 
to that covenant which Paul explicitly declares to 
be unchangeable, — or " without repentance," — it is 
demonstrated to an absolute certainty that they 
will yet be gathered and replaced in that " goodly 
land and large " in which they dwelt when David 
controlled their triumphant armies, and Solomon 
and his court were the admiration of the world. 

A third reference to this subject in the New Tes- 
tament is contained in the first of Acts, where the 

* For a more complete record of the covenant alluded to, read Gen. 
xv. 18-21 ; xvii. 4-8 ; xxvi. 3-5 ; xlviii. 3, 4. 



40 TKE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

disciples put to the Savior their last question: — 
"Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom 
to Israel?" What did they mean by that inquiry? 
Every preacher, commentator and thoughtful Bible- 
reader will tell you that the Jews looked for the 
Messiah as a reigning prince. For many years 
they had been a dependent and oppressed people. 
In the period of the Saviors stay on earth, they 
were subject to the dominion of the Csesars. And 
their great hope was, that when Christ came he 
would judge their oppressors, deliver them from 
their national dejection, and restore their state and 
kingdom to former independence and glory. The 
disciples shared in the common expectation. Hence 
their despondency at his crucifixion, saying, iC We 
trusted that it had been he which should have re- 
deemed Israel." They felt all their fond hopes 
crushed in the Savior's death. But as soon as he 
arose from the dead and reappeared among them, 
their old hopes revived, and they looked anew for 
the Messiah's deliverance of their nation. And this 
was the burden of their question as here presented. 
They wished to know if Christ was then about to 
effect the expected national redemption, and "re- 
store the kingdom to Israel." The question then 
arises. Were their anticipations respecting this 
redemption right or wrong ? We maintain that 
they were right. If they were not right, then we 
are at a loss to account for the fact that these 
anticipations retained their full force through three 



THE TESTIFY OF RUSSIA. 41 

or four years of special daily instruction from the 
Savior himself, and continued uppermost in their 
minds to the very last moment of Christ's stay upon 
earth. Then again, if they were all this while 
cherishing erroneous expectations in this matter, 
would not the Savior have set them right now that 
he was at the point of leaving them until his hnal 
" coming and kingdom ?" But look at his answer. 
Not one word did he utter against the views im- 
plied in their question. All he said was, " It is not 
for you to know the times and seasons which the 
Father hath put in his own power." They did not 
ask him whether he would restore the kingdom to 
Israel; they took all that as settled; and the Savior 
answered them upon the same assumption. They 
simply wished to know whether that was. the time, 
and the answer was that they were not to know the 
time. As regards everything but the time, the re- 
ply leaves it just as it was apprehended by the 
inquirers. And, taking the circumstances and all 
together, it is to us perfectly conclusive that it is 
the Divine intention to u restore the kingdom to 
Israel " in the exact sense in which the disciples 
expected it ; and that the blessed Savior, in his last 
words, meant to throw his solemn sanction upon 
the hope of Israel's restoration. We have no 
interest in forcing or perverting the scriptures from 
their plain and obvious meaning, and if we did not 
solemnly believe what we here state we would not 
utter it. 



4.2 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

A fourth allusion which, the New Testament con- 
tains upon this subject, is in the fifteenth of Acts, 
where James says, " Simeon hath declared how God 
at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them 
a people for his name. And to this agree the words 
of the prophets, as it is written, After this I will 
return, and will build again the tabernacle of David 
which is fallen down; and I will build again the 
ruins thereof, and I will set it up : that the residue 
of men might seek after the Lord, and all the 
Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the 
Lord." 

Two things are here to be specially noted. The 
first is the object of the present dispensation; which 
is, to take out of the Gentiles a people for God's 
name. There is nothing in the scriptures to warrant 
the hope that the world is to be converted before 
Christ comes the second time. The whole object 
of the present economy is, to take out from among 
men a people for the Lord. This is here pointedly 
declared. But James goes further. He assures us 
that it is the purpose of God, as announced by the 
prophets, to return after the object of this dispensa- 
tion has been attained, and then to " build again 
the tabernacle of David which is fallen down." 
And in order to understand what is meant by this 
rebuilding of David's tabernacle, we need only 
revert to the original prophecy in the ninth of Amos, 
which treats of Israel's dispersion for their sins, 
and their redemption in the latter clays, " that they 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 4.3 

may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the 
Gentiles, and be pulled out of their land no more."' 
Surely the matter is as plain as words can make it, 
that, at the end of this dispensation, Christ will 
come and restore the scattered Jews to their own 
land, and reign over the house of Jacob forever 
upon the throne of his father David. 

Although there are still other allusions to this sub • 
ject in the New Testament, yet it is more especially 
in the Old Testament that we are to seek the amplest 
details of Israel's hopes. That is peculiarly the 
gospel of the Jews. The prophecies there on 
record respecting the conversion and restoration of 
Jacob's seed may well be pronounced by Bishop 
Newton to be innumerable. There is hardly a 
chapter from Psalms to Malachi which does not in 
some way bear upon it. To give all we would have 
to recite about half of all that the prophets have 
written. 

Let us refer you to a few specimens: " Thus saith 
the Lord: Behold, I will take the children of Israel 
from among the Gentiles, whither they be gone, and 
will gather them on every side, and bring them into 
their own land." What could be plainer than this ? 
It is useless to say that it refers to the deliverance 
from Babylon; for this prediction relates to u the 
whole house of Israel," whilst only parts of Judah 
and Benjamin ever returned from the Babylonian 
captivity. The restoration here predicted is to be 
attended with the everlasting reunion of the two 



44 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

wings of the great Israelitisli schism, so that they 
shall " not be divided into two kingdoms any more 
at all;" which to this day has not taken place. 
This restoration is to be perpetual, " forever;" the 
restoration from Babylon was only temporary. 
This restoration is to be attended with the ultimate 
entire conversion of the whole nation, and an ever- 
lasting release from all their filthiness and sins; 
but they have involved themselves deeper in crime 
since they came back from Babylon than before, 
and even slew the Messiah. 

Neither will it answer to say that the restoration 
here predicted is to be understood spiritually, as 
referring to the linal conversion of the Jewish 
people, and their incorporation into the Christian 
church. The church is no more their land than it 
is the land of Gentile believers. The prophecy sets 
forth their spiritual renovation in words sufficiently 
plain to need no further spiritualizing; thus leaving 
us to infer that the other particulars are to be 
understood in the same plain and obvious sense. 
The prophecy also contains a promise of the multi- 
plication of man and beast, which certainly cannot 
apply to the church unless our sanctuaries are yet 
to be filled with the brute creation. The same 
prophecy promises to Israel their old estates, — " I 
will settle them after their old estates," — which, 
whether taken in a spiritual or a literal sense, 
necessarily implies their restoration to a condition 
of isolation and distinctness from all other orders 



THE DESTINY OF KITSSIA. 45 

or races of men. But this is not all. If the re- 
gathering and restoration of the Jewish people into 
their own land is to be understood spiritually, 
then their deportation from that land and disper- 
sion must be understood spiritually too. The one 
must correspond to the other. The same prediction 
contains both sides, in the same strain of discourse; 
and the promise of the restoration is founded on 
the predicate of their previous dispersion. Hence, 
if the one is spiritual, the other is equally spiritual*, 
and if the one is literal and outward, so also must 
the other be. God himself, speaking upon this 
very subject, has settled this point forever. u It 
shall come to pass, that like as I have watched 
over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to 
destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them 
to build, and to plant, saith the Lord" (Jer. xxxL 
28). Here then, we take our stand with unflinching 
firmness, and upon the immutable basis of God's 
own word, demand of all opponents either to show 
that the spoiling was only spiritual, or else admit 
that their final restoration is to be national and 
literal. If Titus only took the church, and not the 
literal city, — if he only cast the Jews out of the- 
church, and did not kill them or carry them away 
captives, — if he did not devastate and depopulate 
Palestine, but only intercepted God's spiritual 
blessings by desolating the ways to eternal life,— 
then, but only then, can this promised regathering 
of Israel into their own land be interpreted so as to 



46 THE DESTINY OF BUSSIA. 

preclude their national restoration. " I will gather 
them," saith God, ;t and bring them into their own 
land." 

The same literal restoration of the exiled descend- 
ants of Jacob is foretold by Moses, in his farewell 
address to that people. We there have a graphic 
delineation of the whole history of Israel up to the 
present and still future times. Moses there foretells 
a sore and wide dispersion; but he predicts with 
equal explicitness a final and complete recovery 
from it. " The Lord thy God will turn thy captiv- 
ity, and have compassion upon thee, and will gather 
thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God 
hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out 
unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence 
will the Lord thy God fetch thee: and the Lord thy 
God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers 
possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and he will 
multiply thee above thy fathers:" (Deut. xxx.) 
Never, to this day, has there occurred to Israel such 
a deliverance, from such a dispersion. And the 
idea that this prediction is to be fulfilled by the 
simple incorporation of the Jews into the existing 
church, is worse than ridiculous. They are, there- 
fore to be restored. * 

Reader, what you think of these things, we know 

* In further pursuit of the testimony upon this inexhaustible sub- 
ject read Jer. xxxii. 37-42: Ezek. xxxiv. 22-31 ; xxxvii. 21-28: Amos 
ix. 11-15: Micahiv.6, 7: Zeph. iii. 14-20 : Zech. viii. 7, 8, 14, 20-23, 
&nd scores of other testimonies. 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 47 

not; but we are fully persuaded that it is God's 
immutable purpose to bring back the Jewish race 
to its ancient home. The passages which we have 
given more than prove it; whilst the great mass of 
prophecy upon the subject has not been touched. 
And if even all these solemn statements of God were 
to pass for nothing, the simple but significant facts 
of history furnish ground enough upon which to 
infer that Israel is yet to be restored to that land 
where Abraham lived and the Savior died. 

Look at that wonderful race! For nearly two 
thousand years, scattered all over the face of the 
earth, oppressed, despised, persecuted, unmercifully 
butchered; yet still existing, as distinct in manners, 
feelings and hopes, as when Moses was'their leader 
and Aaron was their priest. Since God shook 
them out of their ancient dwelling-places, nations, 
thrones, kingdoms, have risen, flourished, fallen, 
and lost their proud subjects in the ever-varying 
stream of human affairs; but Israel still stands 
apart, unshaken by earth's mutations, with the 
accents of David and Isaiah still upon their lips, 
and still looking for the promised Shiloh to take 
them back in triumph to their father-land. The 
Christian church herself, glorious as she is in her 
list of martyrs and attirements of grace and truth, 
has, since then, been depressed, diminished, en- 
feebled, by violence and defections which she has 
found it hard to survive; but the house of Jacob, 
with all their wrongs and spoliations, have only 



48 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

strengthened with their trials, whilst all the bitter- 
ness of their great cup of sorrow has never made 
them forget that they were Hebrews, or loosened 
the tenacity with which they cling to God's peculiar 
covenant unto them. Kings have issued severe 
edicts and commissioned bloody executions against 
them, and the seditious and spiteful multitudes 
have afflicted them with outrages still more violent 
and tragical. Princes and people, civilized and 
savage, Pagans, Mahometans, and professing Chris- 
tians, disagreeing in so many things, have more 
than once made common cause for their extermi- 
nation. But still they live and thrive. Though 
for nearly twenty centuries without a temple, 
prophet, king, country, or home, they still bear the 
same marks which characterized them before Ves- 
pasian set foot on their sacred land or Titus invested 
their loved Jerusalem. 

Look, again, at their holy city. " Captured, rav- 
aged, burnt, razed to the foundation, dispeopled, its 
deported citizens sold into slavery, and forbidden 
by severest penalties to visit their native seats;" 
yet, even in its mournful desolations, it stands forth, 
a thing to itself, and altogether distinguished from 
all other ruins. Who now weeps over the fall of 
Troy ? What people pays pilgrimages of devotion 
to the ruin-piles of mighty Mneveh or Babylon ? 
These great monuments of human pride and glory 
sleep their last sleep, and no tear falls upon their 
unhonored graves. But Jerusalem, even in her 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 49 

ashes, is still dear to the hearts of millions, and 
the mere mention of that name awakens pangs of 
mingled grief and hope as deep as those that 
weighed upon her captive sons when they mourned 
under the willows by Babel's waters. Beautifully 
has it been said, that ever and anon, and from all 
the winds of heaven, Zion's exiled children come 
to visit her, and with eyes weeping sore, bewail her 
widowhood. No city was ever honored thus. None 
else thus receives pilgrimages from the fiftieth gen- 
eration of its outcast population. None but this, 
after centuries of such dispersion, could, at the first 
call, gather beneath its wings the whole of its wide- 
wandering family. None but this has possessed a 
spell sufficient to keep its people still distinct, even 
in remotest regions, and in the face of the mightiest 
inducements. And none but itself can now be re- 
peopled with precisely the same race which left it 
nearly two thousand years ago." 

Now, what mean these anomalous, we might say, 
miraculous facts ? Why are the Jewish people still 
distinct, and Jerusalem's walls still dear as ever ?' 
Meet a Jew where you will, he is a mere wanderer 
or sojourner, in a position to move at the shortest 
warning. Scattered over all lands beneath the sun,, 
he has never taken permanent root in any. And of 
all that have ever tried to fix themselves in the Holy 
Land, — Romans and Persians, Saracens and Turks, 
Egyptian Caliphs and Latin Christians, Mamelukes 
and Ottomans, — none have ever been able to gain a 



50 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

permanent foothold in it. Why is all this ? Men 
of political science may try their skill at explana- 
tion; but after all the problem will reduce itself to 
this : that God has his own settled purpose with 
this people and this place, holding the one in re- 
serve for the other until each shall be forever satis- 
fied with its own. Here history is prophecy. And 
if all the holy seers were silent, the very stones 
themselves cry out for Israel's restoration. The 
rocks of Palestine will have no lord but Jacob. 

We are, therefore, prepared to adopt the state- 
ment of David IS". Lord, a very profound and able 
American expositor of sacred prophecy, that "those 
who assent to the true laws of language and symbols 
will no more deny or doubt that the prophecies 
teach that the Israelites are to be restored, than 
those who assent to the definitions and axioms of 
geometry will deny the demonstrations that are 
founded on them. There is not a proposition in the 
whole circle of human knowledge of more perfect 
certainty than that God has revealed the purpose 
of regathering that scattered nation, establishing 
them as his chosen people, and reappointing a 
temple-worship at Jerusalem that is to embrace 
some of their ancient rites. It is not merely certain, 
but is taught with a frequency, an emphasis and an 
amplitude, and invested with a dignity and gran- 
deur that are proportionable to the vastness and 
wonderfulness of the measure in the great scheme 
of his administration over the world." 



THE DESTINY OF KTJSSIA. 51 

The return of this people will doubtless begin, in 
a small way, under what some will call the natural 
course of things. There are even now already 
thousands of Jews in Jerusalem and its vicinity. 
A goodly portion of the Holy Land is said to be at 
this moment under mortgages in the hands of those 
rich Jewish bankers, the Rothschilds, of Europe. 
The effects of the peace concluded in 1856, between 
the great powers of the Old World, in securing 
toleration of other religions under the Turkish 
laws, was merely a signal for the downfall of the 
Ottoman empire, and the opening of the door for 
Israel's return. Many religious associations in all 
parts of Protestant Christendom have since been 
in efficient operation with and for the Jews, all 
looking more or less to their ultimate restoration. 
These things, all working in the line of Israel's 
intense desires, cannot but work mighty conse- 
quences. They are the preliminaries of the second 
Jewish exodus. 

But it is not by these alone that Israel shall be 
redeemed. According to the eighteenth of Isaiah, 
and other passages, there will yet be great national 
movements upon the subject. We there read of a 
great maritime power, spreading wide its wings, 
existing somewhere in the Far West from Palestine, 
and which, must either be the United States, Great 
Britain, or perhaps both, as one in religion, lang- 
uage and laws. This power, accustomed to send 
messengers by sea, is to become interested in be- 



52 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

half of the Jews, and to aid them with contributions, 
embassies, treaty- stipulations, fleets and other ways. 
The prophet himself calls to this power, (we use 
Horseley's translation,) " Ho! land spreading wide 
the shadow of thy wings! Go, as a swift mes- 
senger, to a people wonderful from the beginning 
hitherto, a nation expecting, expecting, and tram- 
pled under foot, whose land rivers (invading armies) 
have spoiled; and all the inhabitants of the world, 
and dwellers upon earth, shall see the lifting up, 
as it were, of a banner upon the mountains; and 
shall hear the sounding, as it were, of a trumpet." 
That is, as we understand it, when these movements 
in favor of the Jews begin, there will be an extra- 
ordinary waking up upon the subject, and a very 
deep interest felt, so that men generally will regard 
themselves as specially called to help in the great 
work. And it is a singular fact, in this connection, 
that the United States government, without any 
assignable cause for it, did, only a few years ago, 
send out Lieut. Lynch and his party, to explore 
the Jordan and obtain detailed and authentic des- 
criptions of the condition and topography of Israel's 
land. England has done the same, as if these 
countries, so closely allied in so many particulars, 
were already laying the foundations for their work 
and mission in bringing back the dispersed children 
of Abraham. 

We have no expectation that anything very de- 
cisive or extraordinary will occur in the line of the 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 53 

Jewish restoration, until God's judgments shall 
begin to tear asunder the nations. When the 
" distress of nations with perplexity" shall have 
fully set in, and the day of earth's troubles has 
come, then the people of Israel shall flock home, 
like doves to their windows; and the Lord himself 
shall show wonders in their favor, like to the day 
that he brought them up out of Egypt. See Isa. lx. 

The accompaniments and great results of this 
final restoration of the Jewish people are so won- 
derful and miraculous, that it is hardly possible for 
us to form a proper conception of them. Not many 
years from this present time, perhaps the whole 
story will be told. One thing is certain, that Israel's 
restoration is not for Israel alone, but for the whole 
world. It is one of those means, in the wonderful 
arrangements of God, for letting forth his mercy 
and salvation upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 
It is in the seed of Abraham that all nations shall 
be blessed. Israel's restoration shall be the world's 
resurrection. In the language of Hamilton, " The 
moment the veil is rent from Israel's eyes, the vail 
will be rent from a thousand prophecies; and, read 
in the light of restored and regenerated Judah, the 
word of God will sparkle with unwonted corusca- 
tions, and, like deep-colored gems that look dusty 
in cloud light, many of its dark sayings will brighten 
up into its divinest truths when the beams break 
forth from Salem." 

Nor need you be surprised, dear reader, when, 



54 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

in the light of the prophecies, we declare the con- 
viction that Jerusalem is yet to become the metrop- 
olis of the world, just as it was the metropolis of 
Judea in the days of Solomon. All the nations of 
this world are yet to come under one universal 
government — the kingdom of Christ and his glori- 
fied saints, " God hath highly exalted him, and 
given him a name that is above every name; that 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and 
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord :" 
(Phil. ii. 10.) " Now we see not yet all things put 
under him:" (Heb. ii. 8.) But " he must reign until 
he hath put all enemies under his feet:" (1 Cor. xv. 
25.) " The Gentiles must be given him as his inher- 
itance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
possession:" (Psa. ii. 8.) He has declared himself 
to be appointed King of the Jews, and Prince of the 
kings of the earth: (Matt, xxvii. 11; Rev. i. 5.) "The 
kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms 
of our Lord and his Christ; and he shall reign for- 
ever and ever:" (Rev. xi. 15.) And the centre and 
seat of this great kingdom is Jerusalem. "The 
Lord of hosts shall reign" — where? — "in Mount 
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients 
gloriously:" (Isa. xxiv. 23.) The Lord also shall 
roar"— from whence ? — " out of Zion, and utter his 
voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth 
shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of his 
people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 
So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 55 

dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall 
Jerusalem be holy:" (Joel iii. 16, 17.) Nay, as there 
is to be a literal reign of the Son of man on earth, 
where is it most likely that his imperial seat will 
be ? What locality does the mind most naturally 
turn to ? The holy associations and the very geo- 
graphical position of Palestine mark it out with 
signal felicity as the place where the Son of Mary 
shall hold his sublime court. As remarked by one 
who has looked carefully at the matter, " Palestine 
is so remarkably situated, that it forms the bridge 
between two continents and a gateway to a third. 
Were the population and wealth of Europe, Asia 
and Africa condensed into single points, Palestine 
would be the centre of their common gravity. And 
with the amazing facilities of modern intercourse, 
and the prodigious extent of modern traffic, it is 
not easy to estimate the commercial grandeur to 
which a kingdom may attain, placed as it were on 
the very apex of the old world, with its three conti- 
nents spreading out beneath its feet, and with the 
Red Sea on one side to bring it all the golden 
treasures and spicy harvests of the East, and the 
Mediterranean floating in on the other side all the 
skill and enterprise and knowledge of the West. 
For the sake of higher ends it seems the purpose of 
God to make the Holy Land a mart of nations, and 
by bringing the forces of the Gentiles to Jerusalem, 
to send the blessing of Abraham over all the earth." 
It is also well known that ever since the Jews 



56 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

first entered Canaan, it has been the battle ground 
of nations. To this hour it is mixed up with the 
mightiest disputes that disturb the world. The 
Assyrian, the Egyptian and the Roman of old, the 
Arab, the Turk, the Greek, the Papist and the Rabbi 
of our times, all have claimed it as if the earth con- 
tained not another prize like it. The Russian war, 
which converted the Crimea into a Golgotha and 
made the world tremble, had its beginning in Jer- 
usalem, in hot disputes and altercations about its 
shrines and holy places. And the history of the 
world is filled with illustrations of the desirable- 
ness that has ever adhered to that " goodly land," 
and of the interests involved in its occupation. 
Divine prophecy, too, sounded through the long 
galleries of centuries, proclaims the fact that all 
the nations shall yet be governed from that point. 

" The day is coming — yea, is now at hand — 

When wars shall struggle on the Syrian plains, — 
Wars, such as ne'er have been on earth, 

Nor the sun seen in all his ancient reigns ; — 
The day is coming — yea, is now at hand — 

When urged by heaven, to her old hallowed ground 
Shall sweet Solyma lead back her tribes, 

While with sweet tones her Hebrew camps resound. 
Then shall stand still Euphrates ; then shall stop, 

In fierce affright, Niles many-founted river, 
Then, too, with whirl gigantic, shall the way 

Of the Red Sea cleave wide apart and sever. 
Day of revival ! then shall festal Zion 

To her eternal God build shrine on shrine, — 
High Lebanon and Hermon shout with singing, 

While flowering olives crown their cliffs divine !" 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE EASTERN" QUESTION. 

In view of what we have already presented, it will 
be manifest to the most casnal reader, that before 
the events there enumerated can take place, great 
changes must be effected in relation to the Jews — 
the Holy Land — and the power that has so long 
held sway there — Turkey. That these changes are 
already in progress is also plain. In fact it is noth- 
ing more nor less than the gradual unfolding of the 
purposes of God concerning the restoration of Israel 
and the subsequent blessing of all nations, that has 
given rise in late years to that problem of problems, 
known as " The Eastern Question !" The secular 
press of the entire world has teemed with articles 
and telegrams relative to this all-absorbing theme ; 
yet, even now, there are thousands of intelligent 
readers who are unacquainted with the real points 
at issue. 

If we would learn what the Eastern Question real- 
ly is, and should venture to ask the great powers 
of Europe, whose diplomats have racked their 
brains for fifty years past, in their vain efforts to 
solve its intricate problems ; or seek to know from 
Rome, St. Petersburg and Constantinople, the great 



58 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

centres of Catholicism and Mohammedanism, or 
England, the representative of Protestantism, we 
should probably hear them reply that it was one of 
the greatest questions of the day ; in short, that no 
question of such magnitude has presented itself for 
adjustment since the days when Napoleon overran 
Europe, and threatened to become master of the 
world. 

The Eastern Question is one that involves the 
destiny of empires and kingdoms. Its solution is 
one that will witness the change of boundary lines 
of kingdoms, the creation of new governments, and 
a general remodeling of the map of both Europe and 
Asia. It is the knowledge of this fact that has 
postponed the final settlement so long. A glance 
at the map of these continents as they are now di- 
vided, will enable anyone to see the situation at 
once. Turkey, an empire stretching from the Per- 
sian Empire in the East to the Adriatic Sea in the 
West, and the Austrian Empire on the North to the 
African coast on the South, is a prize, the distribu- 
tion of which must necessarily create intense anxi- 
ety among the governments interested. 

Again, it is not simply a territorial question, but 
a religious one also. This great empire, binding 
as it does, two continents together, and controlling 
the very key to the wealth and commercial interests 
of the world, is made up of a heterogeneous popu- 
lation, representing various kinds of religious faith. 
Aside from those who profess Mohammedanism, 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 59 

which is the religion of ihe empire, there are mil- 
lions of Greek Catholics, whose spiritual head and 
recognized protector, is the Czar of Russia. Such 
an element as this, scattered mostly through Euro- 
pean Turkey, has necessarily produced a constant 
tendency toward dissolution. It is manifest that 
this could not be otherwise when we remember that 
there has not only been a disposition on the part of 
these crushed millions to appeal to their spiritual 
head for release and protection, but there has been 
a like disposition on his part to grant it, Indeed, 
it is the knowledge of this fact, that has kept the 
great powers of Europe in such an agony of sus- 
pense for so long a time. It is this that has given 
rise to so many conferences, wars, and treaties, for 
the purpose of maintaining "the integrity of the 
Ottoman Empire." It was the dread of Russian 
ambition, and the fear of what might ensue, were 
the time ever to come for the dissolution of the de- 
caying Turkish power, that led to the intervention 
of England and her allies in 1840, to check the am- 
bition of Egypt, who, but for this, would doubtless 
have gained Constantinople. Again, in 1853-5, 
England, France, and Sardinia joined hands to 
drive Russia back, after she had set out to protect 
the Holy Places at Jerusalem ; an interference which 
resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Paris, by 
which the Black Sea was neutralized. In 1860, a 
French army and an English fleet again interfered 
to terminate the conflict between the Druses and 



60 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

Maronites, after fearful massacres of Christians at 
Damascus, and in the Lebanon. In short, the wise 
statesmen of Europe have exerted themselves to the 
utmost (as witness the six months conference of the 
six great powers in 1876-7,) to prevent a conflict 
which might involve the destiny of this politically- 
weak, but territorially -important Empire, but all in 
vain. The hand- writing on the wall long since de- 
clared its doom, and no one has comprehended it 
more fully than the Turks themselves. They speak 
only of their Tcismei, or doom. Bishop Southgate, 
and other travelers in Turkey, tell us that they re- 
peatedly heard such words as these : " We are no 
longer Mussulmans — the Mussulman sabre is bro- 
ken — the Osmanlees will be driven out of Europe 
by the Ghiaours, and driven through Asia to the 
regions from which they first sprang. It is Msmet ! 
We cannot resist destiny !" 

In view of the continual growth of Russia, and 
her settled policy, for nigh two hundred years past, 
to humiliate Turkey ; and in view of the gradual 
waning of the Turkish crescent during the same pe- 
riod, it was manifest that the time should come 
when a collision would ensue that would material- 
ly advance the settlement of the Eastern Question. 
Kossuth foresaw this when he remarked " In Tur- 
key will be decided the fate of the world." Napo- 
leon I., also, when languishing upon the island of 
St. Helena, predicted the future conquest of Turkey 
by Russia. Addressing Governor Hudson, he said : 



THE DESTINY OF EXJSSIA. 61 

" In the natural course of events, Turkey must 
fall to Kussia. The greatest part of her people are 
Greeks, who, you may say, are Russians. The 
powers it would injure are England, France, Aus- 
tria, and Prussia. As to Austria, it will be very 
easy for Russia to engage her assistance by giving 
her Servia, and other provinces bordering upon the 
Austrian dominions reaching near Constantinople. 
The only hypothesis that ever France and England 
may be allied with sincerity will be in order to pre- 
vent this. But even this will not avail. France, 
England and Prussia, united, cannot prevent it. 
Once mistress of Constantinople, Russia gets all 
the commerce of the Mediterranean, becomes a great 
naval power, and God knows then what may hap- 
pen. She quarrels with you and marches off an 
army to India of 70,000- good soldiers,, and 100,000 
Cossacks, which to her is nothing, and England 
loses India. All this I foresaw. I see further into 
futurity than others, and I wanted to establish a 
barrier against those barbarians by re-establishing 
the kingdom of Poland and putting Poniatowski at 
its head, but you imbeciles of ministers would not 
consent, A hundred years hence I shall be praised, 
and Europe, especially England, will lament that I 
did not succeed. When they see the fairest coun- 
tries in Europe overrun, and a prey to northern 
barbarians, they will say Napoleon was right ! 

Alexander II., also, the present Emperor of Rus- 
sia, upon ascending the throne,, indicated his deter- 



62 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

urination to adhere to the policy of his family in 
these words : "May Providence so aid ns that we 
may he able to strengthen Russia in the higher de- 
gree of power and glory ; that by us may be accom- 
plished the views and designs of our illustrious pre- 
decessors, Peter, Catherine, Alexander, and our au- 
gust father, of imperishable memory." 

From this it will be seen that, dating from the 
days of Peter the Great, there has existed a distinct 
line of policy in the Russian government, and that 
each successor to the throne has endeavored, as 
nearly as circumstances would admit, to adhere to 
it. What this policy is will best be learned from 
a perusal of 

THE FAMOUS WILL OF PETER THE GREAT. 

In the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, we, Peter the First 
to all our descendants and successors to the throne and Government of 
the Russian nation : 

Having by the great God of whom we received our existence, been 
also endowed with the gift of prescience, we view the Russians as 
•called, in the course of future events, to the general dominion of 
Europe. 

This opinion is founded on the fact, that the other European nations 
Ihave reached a state of old age next to caducity, toward which they 
are journeying with giant strides; hence it follows, that they should 
easily and undoubtedly be conquered by a people young and new, 
when it shall have acquired its strength and vigor. We view the in- 
vasion, of the East and West countries by the North as a periodical 
movement, decreed among the arcana of that Providence that regen- 
erated the Roman people through the invasion of the barbarians. 

The emigrations of the polar men are like the flood of the Nile 
which comes at certain periods to fertilize the exhausted lands of 
Egypt. We found Russia a rivulet, and leave it converted into a river ; 



THE DESTINY OE EUSSIA. 63 

and my successors will find it a sea, destined to fertilize impoverished 
Europe, and its waves will break down all opposing dykes, if my de- 
scendants have but the wisdom to direct the current. 

To this end I leave the following instructions, which are recom- 
mended to their attention, and constant observance. 

1. To have the Russian nation constantly at war, that the soldiery 
may be always disciplined and ready for action. Allow the nation no 
rest, but for the replenishing of the treasury, reorganizing the armies, 
and choosing the opportune moment for attack ; making in this man- 
ner, peace serve war, and war serve peace, in the interests, aggrandize- 
ment and prosperity of Russia. 

2. To attract, by all possible means, the most efficient and celebra- 
ted military officers in Europe, during war, and the highly educated, 
scientific men of all countries, in time of peace, that the Russians may 
enjoy the advantages of other countries, without losing their own 
identity. 

3. To take part, on all occasions, in the disputes and contentions 
among the states of Europe, especially those of Germany, in which, as 
the nearest, we are the most directly interested. 

4. To subdue Poland ; foment their continual rivalries and disturb- 
ances ; gain their nobles by bribery ; influence their diets, and by in- 
trigue, take action in the election of their kings ; form partisan cliques* 
and for their protection, send them Muscovite troops, to remain in the 
country until the moment of complete occupation. If the neighboring 
powers make opposition, quiet them at once by dismembering the 
country, and giving each a part. 

5. To take what we can from Sweden, and make any attack by her, 
a pretense for subjugation. To effect this, separate her from Denmark, 
and likewise Denmark from Sweden, and foment with care, all ani- 
mosities and rivalries between them. 

6. To select wives for the Russian princes among the princesses of 
Germany, for the multiplying of family alliances will conciliate inte- 
rests, and by them unite Germany to our cause, and increase our influ- 
ence in that country. 

7. To attend assidiously to forming an alliance with England, for 
our commerce ; the assistance of that power we most need, for the 
building up of a maritime force, and she will be of the greatest ser- 



64 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

vice in supplying us with her gold, in exchange for our lumber and 
other productions. Continual intercourse with her merchants and 
sailors will accustom ours to navigation and commerce. 

8. Extend ourselves unceasingly toward the North, the whole length 
of the Baltic, and likewise to the South by the Black Sea. 

9. To take every possible means of gaining Constantinople and the 
Indies, (for he who rules there will be the true sovereign of the world) ; 
excite war continually in Turkey and Persia ; establish fortresses in 
the Black Sea ; get control of the sea by degrees, and also of the Bal- 
tic, which is a double point, necessary to the realization of our pro- 
ject; accelerate as much as possible, the decay of Persia; penetrate to 
the Persian Gulf— re-establish, if possible, by the way of Syria, the 
ancient commerce of the Levant ; advance to the Indies, which are the 
great depot of the world. Once there we can do without the gold of 
England. 

10. Obtain and carefully cultivate the alliance of Austria ; support 
(apparently) her ideas of future dominion over Germany; excite ani- 
mosities and rivalries among her princes — thus causing each party to 
claim the assistance of Russia, and exercise over this country a spe- 
cies of protection that will prepare for future dominion. 

11. Interest the House of Austria in the expulsion of the Turks from 
Europe, and quiet their dissensions at the moment of the conquest of 
Constantinople, (having excited war among the old states of Europe), 
by giving to Austria a portion of the conquest, which afterwards will 
or can be reclaimed. 

12. Unite within your borders all the disunited or schismatic Greeks 
now scattered in Hungary and Poland, making ourselves their centre, 
establishing beforehand an independent church by a species of auto- 
cracy and sacerdotal supremacy. 

13. Sweden dismembered, Persia subdued, Poland subjected, and 
Turkey conquered, our armies united, and the Black and the Baltic 
Seas guarded by our ships of war, it will be necessary to propose 
separately, and with the greatest secrecy, to the Court of Versailles, 
and afterwards to that of Vienna, to divide with them the empire of 
the universe. 

If one of the two accept this offer, so flattering to their ambition and 
self-love, let her serve to annihilate the other, commencing a contest. 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 65 

the issue of which cannot be doubtful ; and Russia may take possession 
of all the East and a great part of Europe. 

If both nations should refuse the offer made by Russia, (which is 
not at all probable), it will be necessary to excite quarrels among 
them, which will engage them in a war with each other. Then Rus- 
sia, improving the decisive moment, advances her troops (assembled 
beforehand) on France and Germany at the same time. Two squad- 
rons proceed — one by the Sea of Azof, and the other by the port of 
Archangel — filled with Asiatic hordes, under the convoy of our armed 
ships in the Black Sea and the Baltic. Advance by the Mediterranean 
and the ocean, inundate France on one side, while Germany is inun- 
dated on the other, and these two countries conquered, the rest of 
Europe will pass under the yoke without firing a gun. Thus may 
and should be effected the subjugation of Europe. 

In view of all the various complications connected 
with the Eastern Question, we may say that it is 
really a " Europero-Africo-Asiatic Question," see- 
ing that it is a question that involves the future 
interests of " three continents, three seas, four 
oceans, seven empires, and especially of the Medit- 
erranean kingdoms, regencies, and principalities. 
The fall of the Turkish Empire has for some time 
past been accepted by the statesmen of Europe as 
a foregone conclusion, and it has also been admitted 
that the war which should be waged in consequence 
would result in the entire re-apportionment of Eu- 
rope and a part of Asia, erasing the landmarks often 
centuries, as thoroughly as those of the old Roman 
Pagan Empire under the irruption of the Goths, 
the Yandals and the Huns, or the overthrow of 
Eastern Christendom under the banners of Moham- 
med II. and Solyman the Magnificent. 



66 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

The Eastern Question, however, in its present 
phase, presents hut a preparatory step towards the 
final outcome. It was necessary that Turkey should 
be weakened and humiliated, in order that her hold 
upon the Holy Land should be slackened, if not 
entirely relinquished. For some years past we 
have seen one concession after another made at the 
instance of Christian nations, granting privileges 
in that country to Jews and others such as would 
have resulted in death formerly, if indulged in. 
Thus, step by step has the way been prepared for 
the return of Israel to their own land. And not 
only has Turkey removed many of her grievous 
burdens from the necks of this oppressed race, but 
all countries have done the same, until to-day we 
see the Jews exercising in most civilized countries 
equal priviliges with other citizens. A complete 
revolution in their favor has been wrought within a 
generation. Everything tends to show that the 
time to favor Zion is near, yea, very near. And 
we regard this last contest of Russia with Turkey 
as another evidence. The hands of every power 
were seemingly tied until the Northern Avenger 
thoroughly chastised the Turkish Power. And we 
may be sure of one thing, that in the end some 
arrangement will be effected whereby the Holy 
Land will be freed from the tyranny of the Turk, 
and Israel will be at liberty to return under ample 
protection, to the land of his fathers. That this 
will be accomplished we are certain, even though 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 67 

Jewish Infidels may be found in this country who 
scoff at the mere mention of their nation returning 
to the Promised Land. God's word cannot be 
broken and he has said it. And that this is the 
expectation of the great mass of the Jewish people 
is well-known. May God speed the day when 
their hopes shall be realized, for with it will come 
better days for this sin-cursed earth of ours. 

The final settlement of the much-talked- of Eastern 
Question, however, will not be left for human wis- 
dom or human prowess to adjust. Neither will it 
be finally settled in Turkey proper, but as foreshown 
by the prophets of God, it will be on the mountains 
of Israel. There it will be definitely and forever 
settled by the interposition of a Higher power, even 
One from Heaven. The prophets of God have 
clearly foretold this great event, and it remains 
therefore for those who believe that the Word of 
the Lord cannot be broken, to stand still and see 
the wonderful workings of Almighty Power, as one 
event after another leads on to the last grand con- 
flict in that land of all lands — Palestine. 



CHAPTER V. 

AN UNFULFILLED PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. 

In the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel we find 
a most remarkable prophecy concerning the Jews 
and their enemies, a prophecy that has never re- 
ceived its fulfilment, and npon which we base our 
belief as to the destiny of Russia and other powers 
who will be allied with her as there shown. 

Seeing that all our readers are possessed of King 
James' Version, we thought best not to occupy our 
space with a repetition of the prophecy as there 
translated, but instead, we give it as recorded in a 
copy of the Scriptures translated by Isaac Leeser,* 
an Israelite in faith and by birth also. We shall 
also place in foot-notes certain variations as shown in 
the Septuagint and Douay Versions, f so that our 
readers may have the benefit of them all in reaching 
their own conclusions as to what the prophecy really 
signifies. 

*" The twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures; carefully trans- 
lated according to the Massoretic Text, after the best Jewish author- 
ities, by Isaac Leeser. Philadelphia: Published at 1227 Walnut 
street. 5617 " (A. D. 1857). 

f The readings from the Septuagint Version will be marked " S. V." 
and those from the Douay, " D. V." 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 69 

THE PROPHECY CONCERNING RUSSIA AND OTHER POWERS. 

1 IT And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 

2 Son of man, direct thy face against Gog of the land of Magog, the 
prince of Rosh, Meshech and Thubal, and prophesy against him, 

3 And say, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I will be 
against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Thubal ; 

4 And I will derange thee, and put hooks in thy jaws, 1 and I will 
bring thee forth, and all thy army, horses and horsemen, all of them 
clothed in elegant attire, a great assemblage with bucklers and shields, 
all of them grasping swords. 

5 Persia, Cush, and Put (shall be) with them ; all of them with 
shield and helmet ; 

6 Gomer and all of its armies ; the house of Thogarmah out of the 
farthest north, and all its armies : many people shall be with thee. 

7 Be thou ready, and prepare thyself, thou, and all thy assemblages 
that are assembled about thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 2 

8 After many days shalt thou be ordered forward ; in the end of 
years shalt thou come into the land that is recovering from the sword, 
and is gathered together out of many people, against the mountains of 
Israel, which have been ruined for a very long time : 3 (to a people) 
that are brought forth out of the nations, and that now dwell in safety, 
all of them. 

9 Thou wilt ascend and come like a tempest, like a cloud to cover 
the earth wilt thou be, thou, and all thy armies, and the many people 
with thee. 

10 ^y Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, It will also come to pass, at 
the same time, that things will come into thy mind, and thou wilt 
entertain an evil device ; 4 

11 And thou wilt say, I will go up over the land of open towns ; I 
will come against those that are careless, that dwell in safety, all of 
whom dwell without walls, and have neither bars nor gates, 

12 To snatch up the spoil, and to take away the prey ; to turn thy 

1. D. V. " And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in thy jaws. 1 ' 

2. B. V. " And be Thou commander over them." 

3. S. V. " Against the land of Israel, which was entirely desolate." 

4. J). V. "In that day projects shall enter into thy heart, and thou shalt con- 
ceive a mischievous design." 



70 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

hand against the ruined places now inhabited, and against the people 
that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten cattle and goods, 
that dwell in the highest part of the land. 5 

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the traders of Tharshish, with all her 
young lions, will say unto thee, Art thou come to plunder the spoil ? 
hast thou gathered thy company to carry off the prey ? to bear away 
silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to plunder a great 
spoil ? 6 

14 Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say unto Gog, Thus hath 
said tire Lord Eternal, Behold, on the day when my people of Israel 
dwelleth in safety, shalt thou know (my power). 7 

15 And thou wilt come from thy place out of the farthest ends of 
the north, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon 
horses, a great assemblage, and a mighty army ; 

16 And thou wilt come up against my people of Israel, like a cloud 
to cover the land ; in the latter days will this be, 8 and I will bring 
thee over my land, in order that the nations may know me, when I 
am sanctified on thee, before their eyes, O Gog. 

17 TT Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Art thou (not) he of whom I 
have spoken in ancient days through means of my servants the 
prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days (many) years, that I 
would bring thee against them ? 

18 And it shall come to pass at the same time, on the day of Gog's 
coming over the land of Israel, saith the Lord Eternal, that my fury 
shall be kindled in my nose. 

19 And in my zealousness, in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, 



5. D. V- " to lay thy hand upon them that have been wasted, and afterwards 
restored, and upon the people that is gathered together out of the nations, which 
hath begun to possess and to dwell in the midst of the earth." 8. V. " against 
a nation that is gathered from many nations, that have acquired property, 
dwelling in the midst of the land.'' 1 

6. 8. V. "They are come for plunder to take a prey, and to get spoils; thou 
hast gathered thy multitude to take silver and gold, to carry off property, to take 
spoils. 11 

7. 8. V. "Wilt not thou arise in that day, when my people Israel are dwelling 
securely, and come out of the place from the farthest north. 11 

8. D. V. " Shalt be in the latter days. 11 8. V. " it shall come to pass in the 
last days." 1 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 71 

Surely on that day there shall be a great earthquake in the country of 
Israel ; 9 

20 And there shall quake at my presence the fishes of the sea, and 
the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the 
face of the earth, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the 
cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 

21 And I will call against him throughout all my mountains for the 
sword, saith the Lord Eternal : every man's sword shall be against his 
brother. 10 

22 And I will hold judgment over him with pestilence and with 
blood (-shedding) ; and an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire 
and sulphur will I let rain over him and his armies, and over the many 
people that are with him. n 

23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and make my- 
self known before the eyes of many nations : and they shall know that 
I am the Lord. 



1 Tl" But thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus 
hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold, I will be against thee, Gog, the 
prince of Rosh, Meshech and Thubal ; 12 

2 And I will derange thee, and lead thee astray, and will cause thee 
to come up from the farthest ends of the north ; 13 and I will bring thee 
upon the mountains of Israel ; 

3 And I will strike thy bow out of thy left hand, and thy arrows will 
I cause to fall out of thy right hand. 

9. D. V. "A great commotion. " S. V. " A great shaking." 

10. S. V. "I will summon against it even every fear, says the Lord; the sword 
of every man shall be against his brother. ,, D. V- "Every man's sword shall 
be pointed against his brother. 11 

11. S. V. " I will judge him with pestilence and blood and sweeping rain, and 
hailstones; and I will rain upon him fire and brimstone, and upon all that are 
with him. D. V. "I will judge him with pestilence and with blood, and with 
violent rain, and vast hailstones; I will rain fire and brimstone upon him, and 
upon his army, and upon the many nations that are with him. 11 

12. S. V. "O Gog, prince of Rhos, Mesoch, and Thubel. 11 

13. D. V. "I will turn thee round, and I will lead thee out, and will make thee 
go up from the northern parts. 11 S. V "I will assemble thee, and guide thee, 
and raise thee up on the extremity of the north. 11 



72 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

4 Upon the mountains of Israel shalt thou fall, thou, and all thy 
armies and the people that are with thee : unto the ravenous birds, to 
every thing that hath wings, and to the beasts of the field, do I give 
thee for food. 

5 Upon the open field shalt thou fall ; for I have spoken it, saith the 
Lord Eternal. 

6 And I will send a fire against Magog, and against those that dwell 
in the isles in safety : u and they shall know that I am the Lokd. 

7 And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people 
Israel ; and I will not permit my holy name to be profaned any more ; 
and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, Holy in Israel. 15 

8 Behold, it cometh, and it taketh place, saith the Lord Eternal : 
this is the day whereof I have spoken. 

9 And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall 
burn and make fire for heating of the weapons, and shields and buck- 
lers, of bows and of arrows, and of handstaves, and of spears ; and they 
shall feed with them the fire for seven years ; 

10 And they shall take no wood out of the field, nor cut down any 
'out of the forests; for with weapons shall they feed the fire: and they 
shall spoil those that spoiled them, and plunder those that plundered 
them, saith the Lord Eternal. 

11 ^ And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will give unto 
Gog a place there for a grave in Israel, the valley where people pass 
over to the east of the sea ; and it shall stop the passengers (from pass- 
ing) : 16 and they shall bury there Gog and all his multitude, and they 
shall call it The valley of the multitude of Gog [Gay hammon Gog] # 

12 And the house of Israel shall be burying them, in order to cleanse 
the land, during seven months. 

13 Yea all the people of the land shall bury them ; and it shall be 
to them as a renown on the day that I glorify myself, 17 saith the Lord 
Eternal. 

14 And men constantly devoted to this shall they set apart to pass 

14. S. V. " I will send a fire upon Gog, and the islands shall be securely inhab- 
ited." 

15. S. V. "The Holy One in Israel.'" 

16. D. V. "Which shall cause astonishment in them that pass by." 

17. D. V. "It shall be to them a noted day, wherein I was glorified." 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 73 

through the land, to bury with those that pass through those that re- 
main upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it : at the end of seven 
months shall they make a search. 

15 And those that thus travel will pass through the land ; and when 
any one seeth a human bone, then will he set np a sign by it, till the 
buriers have buried it in the valley of the multitude of Gog. 

16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. 18 Thus shall 
they cleanse the land. 

17 TJ And thou, O son of man, thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Say 
unto the birds, to everything that hath wings, and to every beast of the 
field, Assemble yourselves, and come ; gather yourselves from every 
side to my sacrifice that I do slaughter for you, as a great sacrifice 
upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 

18 The flesh of the mighty shall ye eat, and the blood of the princes 
of the earth shall ye drink, — wethers, lambs, and he-goats, bullocks, 
fatlings of Bashan are they all of them. 

19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be sate 1, and ye shall drink blood till 
ye be drunken, from my sacrifice which I have slaughtered for you. 

20 And ye shall be sated at my table on horses and chariot-teams, 
on mighty men, and on all men of war, 19 saith the Lord Eternal. 

21 And I will display my glory among the nations : and all the na- 
tions shall see my punishment that I execute, and my hand that I lay 
on them. 

22 And the house of Israel shall acknowledge that I am the Lord 
their God from that day and forward. 

23 And the nations shall know that for their iniquity did the house 
of Israel go into exile ; because they had trespassed against me, and I 
had hidden my face from them ; and I gave them up therefore into the 
hand of their oppressors, and they all fell by the sword. 

24 According to their uncleanness, and according to their transgres- 
sions did I deal with them, and hid my face from them. 

25 TT Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Now will I bring 
back again the captivity of Jacob, and I will have mercy upon the 
whole house of Israel, and will be zealous for my holy name ; 



18. S. V. "Name of the city shall be Burial-place." 

19. D. Y. " With horses, and mighty horsemen, and all the men of war. v 



74 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

26 And they shall feel their disgrace, and all their trespass whereby 
they had trespassed against me, when they dwelt in their land in safe- 
ty, with none to make them afraid : 

27 When I bring them back again from the people, and gather them 
out of the land of their enemies, and sanctify myself on them before 
the eyes of the many nations. 

28 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God ; because I 
had exiled them among the nations, but gather them now unto their 
own land, and leave none of them any more there. 

29 And I will not hide my face any more from them ; for I will 
have poured out my spirit over the house of Israel, saith the Lord 
Eternal. 



CHAPTER VI, 

IDENTIFICATION OF THE POWERS. 

At the commencement of the present war between 
Russia and Turkey, there were not wanting men 
who predicted the discomfiture of Russia and the 
triumph of Turkey. These judged from a human 
standpoint, believing that other powers would 
interfere and assist the Turk in his death struggle 
with the northern giant. Those who were enlight- 
ened from a prophetic standpoint however, believed 
that Russia would triumph, and we may here add 
that her victories are not yet ended. She is destined 
to become the greatest power on earth, and to con- 
trol directly and indirectly vaster armies than the 
world dreams of. We venture this statement not 
because we claim superior human wisdom from 
those around us, but because we have faith un- 
bounded in God's Word. This word cannot be 
broken. Having been sent forth it will not return 
to him void. 

But where is Russia mentioned in God's Word ? 
perhaps you ask. Nowhere, as Russia, but in lan- 
guage unmistakable her future destiny is clearly 
marked out, as we shall endeavor to show. 

It is a well established fact that when the Lord 



76 THE DESTINY OF KITSSIA. 

would make known the future history of any nation 
or country, lie would speak of it as known at the 
time the prophecy was uttered. To have done 
otherwise would have resulted in endless confusion. 
Therefore, if we find nations and countries now 
existing, named in the Scriptures after their ancient 
titles, we need not conclude that the prophecy 
applies to them only as originally known, but that 
the ancient name adheres to them continually 
age after age until all that has been predicted 
concerning them is fulfilled. Hence when God 
through his prophets reveals beforehand the history 
of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tarshish, Pul, Lud, 
Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, 
Gomer, Togarmah, Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish, and 
others, he does not change the names of these to 
suit the various periods of their history, or to har- 
monize with the changes made by man from time 
to time, but they remain prophetically the same to 
the end. Hence if we find that some of these are 
known in our day as Russia, Africa, Germany, 
England, etc., we need not stumble on that account, 
if we find that the prophecies concerning them have 
never been fulfilled. It matters not to God what 
men call these prophetic countries in the nineteenth 
century; to him they remain the same as at first, 
or when the prophecy concerning them was delivered. 
With this brief preface we are prepared to examine 
one of the most remarkable prophecies in God's 
Word — one that has never been fulfilled, but which 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 77 

is evidently nearing the time when its fulfilment 
will take place. Indeed, the signs of the times 
almost warrant us in saying that the present gener- 
ation may witness its accomplishment even in the 
remotest detail, 

A careful perusal of the prophecy as recorded in 
our last chapter, will reveal the fact that a great 
confederacy of nations is spoken of as coming down 
like a cloud to cover the land of Israel, where will 
be gathered at that time a people from the nations, 
that is, an Israelitish people, who will be possessed 
of wealth, and be dwelling safely in the midst of 
the land. This great invading host will be tho- 
roughly organized, and possess a leader, who will 
bring them forward to the mountains of Israel with 
the intention of possessing themselves of a great 
spoil, or in other words, of depleting the restored 
Israelites of their immense wealth which we are 
told will consist of " silver and gold, cattle and 
goods." But when this intent becomes manifest by 
a forward movement of their united armies, an in- 
quiry is instituted by an opposing power, mentioned 
in the 13th verse of chapter xxxviii. This does not 
intimidate the aggressor, however, but he presses 
forward and plants his host on the sacred soil of 
Palestine, where he meets with a mighty and un- 
looked for overthrow. Such is a brief outline of 
this great prophecy. 

Before entering into explanatory details we will 
trace out the various powers named, so as to place 



78 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

beyond doubt who among modern nations are 
signified. This will necessitate the introduction 
of more or less extracts from history, and authors 
who have studied deeply on the subject heretofore, 
and may not prove to be quite as interesting to the 
general reader as a mere statement would be, yet we 
deem it important as a foundation for the building 
up of our interpretation hereafter. 

At the outset of the prophecy Ezekiel is directed 
to set his face " against Gog, the land of Magog, 
the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and pro- 
phesy against him." It is pretty well agreed that 
the Hebrew words 125 ah fcOfcS cannot bear the mean- 
ing thus affixed to them. The true reading is 
u prince of Ros " instead of " the chief prince," and 
the LXX so render them, (apxovta ( Pgos). " Ros," 
says David Levi, "is not an appellative, as in the 
common translation of the Bible, but a proper 
noun." The other sense we are told was adopted 
by the "Vulgate in consequence of the name Rosh 
not occurring elsewhere in Scripture. 

The names communicated to the prophet as ta- 
king part in this great event of the latter days are as 
follows : 



I. Gog; 


8. Libya; 


2. Magog; 


9. Gomer; 


3. Rosh; 


10. Togarmah; 


4. Meshech ; 


11. Sheba; 


5. Tubal; 


12. Dedan; 


6. Persia; 


13. Merchants of Tarshish ; 


7. Ethiopia; 


14. The Israelites. 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 79 

That we may arrive at a correct conclusion con- 
cerning each of the parties and countries named, 
and make no mistake in locating them as known 
in modern times, we will consider them separately, 
and in the order named in the prophecy. 

Gog. — Boothroyd says that it is generally ad- 
mitted that Gog was the common name of the kings 
of Scythia or Tartary, as Pharoah was of the kings 
of Egypt. 

Michaelis compares the word Gog with Kak or 
CJiak, the general name of kings among the ancient 
Turks, Moguls, Tartars, Catalans, and Chinese. 

Calmet regards Gog as a king of the country or 
people known as Magog. 

Bochart places Gog in the neighborhood of 
Caucassus. He also derives the name of this cele- 
brated mountain from the Hebrew, Gog-chasan — 
"the fortress of Gog." There is a fortress in 
Iberia, to the South of Caucassus, called the Goga- 
rene. 

In view of the foregoing opinions, as well as the 
personal sense in which Ezekiel speaks of Gog, 
addressing him as a great chieftain, or guard over 
vast armies of confederate nations, we are safe in 
saying that Gog, as used in the prophecy under 
consideration refers to a man— a king, and military 
leader, 

Magog. — This name is applied in the Scriptures 
both to a person and to a land or people. In Gen. 
x. 2, Magog appears as the second son of Japheth, 



80 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

in connection with Gomer, and Madai (the Medes). 
Magog was Gog's original kingdom, although he 
acquired also Meshech and Tubal. 

Simon thinks the name expresses " augmentation? 
spreading of the family." 

" The Arabs, it is certain, take Jiouge and Ma- 
jiouge for northern nations; and during the last 
wars of the Russians and Turks they were anxious 
to be informed on events, expecting, as we learn 
from Bruce, that they might precede the advent of 
these northern powers, from which they expect 
interesting occurrences." — Wells in A. D, 1817. 

By Josephus, Eustathius, Jerome, Theodoret, and 
by general consent, Magog is placed North of Tubal, 
and esteemed as the father of the Scythians on the 
East and North-east of the Euxine Sea. 

Newcome thinks that Magog denotes those vast 
tracts of country to the North of India and China, 
which the Greeks called Scythia. 

Bagster says that by Magog is probably meant 
the Scythians or Tartars, called so by Arabian 
and Syrian writers. 

The name Magog, says another writer, would 
lead us to fix a northern locality. Not only did all 
the tribes mentioned in connexion with it belong to 
that quarter, but it is expressly stated by Ezekiel 
that he was to come up from sides of the North, 
from a country adjacent to that of Togarmah, or 
Armenia, and not far from the " isles " or maratime 
regions of Europe. The people of Magog further 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 81 

appear as having a force of cavalry. The conclu- 
sion has been drawn that Magog represents the 
race of the Scythians. In thus identifying them 
however, we must not be understood as using the 
latter term in a strictly ethnographical sense, but 
as a general expression for the tribes living North 
of the Caucasus. We regard Magog as essentially 
a geographical term, just as it was applied by the 
Syrians of the middle ages to Asiatic Tartary, and 
by the Arabians to the district between the Caspian 
and Euxine seas. The inhabitants of this district 
in the time of Ezekiel were undoubtedly the people 
known by the classical name of Scythians. 

Houbigant also declares for the Scythians, whose 
neighbors were the people of Rosh, Meshech and 
Tubal. Dr. Adam Clark says that several eminent 
writers espouse this opinion. 

"In the Koran Gog and Magog are localized 
North of the Caucasus. There appears to have 
been from the earliest times a legend that the ene- 
mies of religion and civilization lived in that 
quarter." — Hazthanseu?s Tribes of the Caucasus? 
p. 55. 

Calmet does not doubt but that the Scythians 
were from Magog, and confined among the Great 
and Little Tartars, and perhaps among the Musco- 
vites and other northern people. He says " the 
Tartars and Muscovites at this day possess the 
country of the ancient Scythians, and there are still 
found among them several footsteps of the names 



CM THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

Gog and Magog. They were formerly known as the 
Mogli." 

It is clear from the foregoing testimony that Ma- 
gog lies north of the Caucasian mountains, and is 
what is known as the country of the Muscovites 
and Tartars. 

Rosh. — The Scythian Tauri, in the Crimea, were so 
called, and the Araxes river, in Russia, was also 
named Rhos. The modern Russians may have 
assumed this name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from 
Meshech and Tubal, though their proper ancient 
name was Slavi or Wends. — Wells. 

Bagster says the Rosh are the Russians, descend- 
ents of the ancient inhabitants on the river Araxes, 
or Rosh. 

" The namePO^, Ros" says Bochart, in his re- 
searches into Sacred Geography, about 1640, "is 
the most ancient form under which history makes 
mention of Russia." The Greeks, in the earliest 
period in which P£12 is mentioned, say eSvos $€ 61 
Pgqs 2xv$ihov, 7tepi rov apurooov Tavpov, u the Ros 
are a Scythian nation, bordering on the Northern 
Taurus." And their own historians say, " It is re- 
lated that the Russians (whom the Greeks called 
Pods, Ros, and sometimes Pg^os, Rosos,) derived 
their name from Ros, a valiant man, who delivered 
his nation from the yoke of their tyrants." 

Meshech. — Calmet says that Meshech was the 
sixth son of Japhet, and is thought to be the father 
of the Mosques, a people inhabiting between Iberia 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 83 

and Armenia. Others, he says, believe that the 
Muscovites are descended from Meshech, which 
opinion to us seems to be most likely. 

Smith's Bible Dictionary says, "Both the name 
and associations are in favor of the identification of 
Meshech with the Moschi. The position of the 
Moschi in the age of Ezekiel was probably the same 
as is described by Herodotus (iii. 94) viz., on the 
borders of Colchis and Armenia, where a mountain 
chain connecting Anti Taurus with Caucasus was 
named after them the MoscMci Monies, and where 
also a district named by the historian Strabo (xi. 
477-99) Moschice. In the same neighborhood were 
the Tibareni who have been generally identified 
with the Biblical Tubal. Although the Moschi 
were comparatively an unimportant race in classical 
times, they had previously been one of the most 
powerful nations of Western Asia. The Assyrian 
monarchs were engaged in frequent wars with them. 
In the Assyrian inscriptions the name appears under 
the form of Musliai. A similar name, Moshoash 
appears in an Egyptian inscription which com- 
memorates the achievements of the third Rameses. 
The subsequent history of Meshech is unknown. 
As far as the name and locality are concerned, 
Muscovite is a probable hypothesis." 

Other writers confirm the outline as given above, 
concerning Meshech rendering it almost certain 
that the Muscovites in Russia are . the Meshech of 
to-day. It is also admitted that ->tDto Mbsc, as it 



84 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

may be spelled without the points, or MesJiecli with, 
them, is the Hebrew name of the people called in 
modern geography Moscovites. Dr. Newcome says 
in a note, " Tubal and Meshech, sons of Japheth. 
The people called Tibareni and Moschi are here 
meant, who were generally mentioned together, 
and were situated towards Mount Caucasus." 
Gesenius styles them •' a barbarous people inhabit- 
ing the Moschian Mountains between Iberia, Arme- 
nia and Colchis," 

Tubal.— The fifth son of Japbeth, and originally 
located North of Meshech. Josephus affirms him 
to be the father of the Asiatic Iberians. Bochart 
supposes the Tibareni, a people mentioned by old 
authors in this tract, to have been so called from 
Tubal, by the change of 1 into r. Meshech and. 
Tubal did originally seat themselves in these tracts, 
by what is said of these two nations in Ezekiel 
xxvii. 23. 

Tubal in the Greek is written Thubal, and refers 
to a people known as Tibarenes, near the Moschian 
mountains. The Bible commonly joins together 
Tubal and Meshech, which makes it thought that 
they peopled countries bordering upon each other. 
Bochart is very copious to prove that by Meshech 
and Tubal are intended the Muscovites and Tiber- 
enians. — Calmet. 

Knobel considers the Tibareni to have been a 
branch of this widely spread Turanean family, 
known to the Hebrews as Tubal. This approxi- 



THE DESTINY OF ETJSSIA. 85 

mates to the view of Bocliart (Phaleg. iii. 12) who 
makes the MbscM and Tibareni represent Meshech 
and Tubal." 

Another writer says: " It is admitted that ^ifi 
TJiubl, or Thubal, is the Hebrew name for the 
Tibareni, or Siberians, who occupied the country 
watered by the Thubl, or Tobol, north of the Cas- 
pian, and East of the Ural mountains. Hence, while 
Moscow is the capital of Meshech, Tobolski is the 
capital of the Thubal." 

That Tubal, in connection with Rosh and Me- 
shech, was located in what is now Russian terri- 
tory is beyond question. 

Persia. — Inasmuch as Persia still retains her an- 
cient name, and her identity is indisputable, we 
shall waste no space in proving her whereabouts. 

Ethiopia. — Called by the Hebrews Cush. It lies to 
the south of Egypt, and embraced, in its most ex- 
tended sense, the modern Nubia, Sennaar, Kordo- 
fan, and Northern Abyssinia, and in its more 
definite sense, the kingdom of Maroe, from the junc- 
tion of the Blue and White branches of the Nile, to 
the border of Egypt. The only direction in which 
a clear boundary can be fixed is in the North, where 
Syene marked the division between Ethiopia and 
Egypt, (Ezek. xxix. 10); in other directions the 
boundaries can be generally described, as the Red 
Sea on the East, the Libyan desert on the West, 
and the Abyssinian highlands on the South. It is 
described as a well watered country lying "by the 



tib THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

side of" (A V. " beyond ") the waters of Cash (Isa. 
xviii. 1; Zeph. iii. 10), being traversed by the two 
branches of the Nile, and by the Astaboras or 
Tacazze." — Smith's Bible Dictionary. 

Libya. — This name is applied by Greek and 
Roman writers to the African continent ; generally, 
however, excluding Egypt. Josephus says, "it is 
beyond the river in the region of Mauritania. By 
this name it is well known in the Grecian histories ; 
adjacent to the region which they called Phut." 

Ethiopia and Libya therefore, taken together > 
doubtless include the whole of Northern Africa^ 
excepting Egypt. 

Gomer. — The eldest son of Japheth, and originally 
located in the Northern part of lesser Asia. Jose- 
phus, (Antiq. lib. i. cap. 7) tells us expressly that 
the Galatians, who lived in this tract, and to whom 
St. Paul wrote an epistle, were called Gomerites. 
Herodotus tells us that a people called Cimmerii, 
dwelt in these parts; and Pliny, (lib. v. cap. 3,) 
speaks of a town in Troas, a part of Phrygia, called 
Cimmeris; which names are plainly derived from 
Gomer. It is certain that Phrygia did anciently 
extend over a very considerable part of the northern 
tract of Lesser Asia. It is also certain that a great 
part of Galatia was formerly included under Phry- 
gia as having been possessed by the Phrygians. 

Bochart conjectures that the name Phrygia was 
imposed on these parts by the Greeks, in allusion 
to the Hebrew name, Gomer. The radix ^faj 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 87 

Gamar, signifies " to consume," and its derivative, 
gumra, or gum,ro, signifies a coal ; whence the 
Greeks might be induced to bestow on it a name of 
like import, calling it Phrygia, the Torrid, or Burnt 
country, it is certain, a part of this country was 
specially called by the Greeks, Burnt Phrygia. 

But although the original plantation of the Go 
merites or Cimmerii was in Lesser Asia, yet Hero- 
dotus tells us that these people sent a colony to the 
Mseotic Lake, North of the Euxine Sea, and so gave 
the name of Bosphorus Cimmerius to the strait 
between the Euxine Sea and the Mseotic Lake, now 
the strait of Caffa. This colony increasing and 
spreading by new colonies further westward, came 
up the Danube, and settled in the country, which 
from them has been called Germany. For Diodorus 
Siculus, as Mr. Mede observes, affirms that the Ger- 
mans had their origin from the Cimmerians ; and 
the Jews to this day call them Ashkenazim, of 
Ashkenaz, as being descended from that branch of 
Gomer. Indeed they retain plain marks enough 
of their descent, both in the name Cimeri, and as 
they call themselves, Germen ; which is but a small 
variation from Gemren or Gomren ; and this last is 
easily contracted from Gomeren, Gomereans, For 
the termination en is a plural termination in the 
German language; and from the singular Gomer, 
is formed Gomeren, Gemren, by the same analogy, 
as from brother is formed brotheren, brethren. 

The country of Gomer is in the Chaldee, named 



88 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

Germia, Garmeja, but others write it Germania, 
Garmanaja. The later Jews by Germia understand 
Germany, the same as when it is written with an 
n, Germania, and so say the Talmudists on Gen. 
x. 2, " Gomer is Germanaja" (Joma, fol. x: i). — 
Wells. 

It would appear from the evidence adduced, that 
the Germans are the descendants of Gomer, from 
his son Ashkenaz, and may properly be reckoned 
as the representatives of Gomer at the present day. 

Togarmah. — Was the third and last son of Gomer, 
and his family were seated in the most easterly 
part of the nation of Gomer, north of Judea. Cap- 
padocia was the name by which a considerable part 
of the lot of Togarmah was afterwards known to 
the Greeks. Ptolomy so locates them, as also does 
Strabo. It was by them also that Russian and In- 
dependent Tartary were peopled. 

Sheba and Dedan. — These two are so frequently spo- 
ken of together that we thus classify them. They 
were both sons of Jokshan. Both were located in 
the districts of Arabia, and both were traders. The 
men of Dedan are mentioned by Ezekiel as trading 
in the Tyrian fairs. They carried thither the ivory 
and ebony which they procured from " the many 
isles" to the eastward, and " precious clothes for 
chariots." Sheba carried " the chief of spices, pre- 
cious stones and gold," Their position in Arabia 
lay convenient to the ivory and gold, precious stones 
and spice countries of Africa and India. Sheba 



TIIE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. b9 

embraced the greater part of the Yemen or Arabia 
Felix; and Dedan the country now occupied by the 
Sultan of Muscat. The British power has planted 
itself on the soil of Sheba, occupying Aden, the 
Gibralter of the Eed Sea and the Key of Egypt, and 
may properly be said to represent the Sheba of the 
present day. The Arabian Polyglotts by Dedan 
understood India. 

Merchants of Tarshish, and the Young Lions thereof. — Thai" 
there were two points named Tarshish is apparent 
— one lying to the north-west of Judea and the other 
south-east. Jonah embarked at Joppa, now Jaffa, 
a port on the Mediterranean Sea, " to flee unto Tar- 
shish from the presence of the Lord." He must 
have sailed westward. But we read also that Jehos- 
haphat built ships at Eziongeber, a port of the 
Eed Sea, that they might sail thence to Tarshish . 
It is manifest that they must sail southward towards 
the straits of Babelmandeb, and from thence they 
might steer east or north to India, or southward 
again along the coast of Africa. But that they crept 
around the Arabian coast to Hindostan is almost 
certain, when we remember that no compasses were 
in use in those days ; also the time occupied in the 
journey (three years) as well as the productions 
they were laden with on their return. 

The Tarshish of the northwest produced ■" silver, 
iron, tin and lead," and traded in the fairs of Tyre. 
Tartessus on the southernmost coast of Spain is 
supposed by some to be the Tarshish that supplied 



yO THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

these products. Spain it is known produced all 
these sources of wealth. .And the Mediterranean 
Sea is called the Sea of Tarshish, and the ships 
sailing on her waters, the ships of Tarshish. G-ib- 
ralter, being located at the point indicated — the 
ancient Tartessus, and being the key to the Medi- 
terranean, may represent the Tarshish of the West. 
Others think that inasmuch as England was a great 
producer of tin, lead, iron, etc., that this was the 
Western Tarshish. But, in either case, England 
would be its modern representative, as she possesses 
the key to the Tarshish Sea, and occupies the Tar- 
tessus of old. 

The Tarshish of the East was evidently India, as 
Solomon had at sea a navy of Tarshish, with the 
navy of Hiram, which once in three years brought 
" gold and silver, ivory, apes and peacocks," all of 
them products of India. In fact, it is affirmed, that 
the peacock is a native of India and nowhere else. 
The merchandise of both the Eastern and Western 
Tarshish, together with the governing power in both, 
identifies Britain as the Tarshish power of the pre- 
sent day. 

But the expression "Merchants of Tarshish with 
all the young lions thereof," seems to settle the 
question so far as Great Britain is concerned, when 
we recollect that India has been governed for some- 
time by a company of merchant rulers, known as 
the British East India Company, a merchant sov- 
ereignty, the quarterings of whose shield are filled 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 91 

with young lions rampant, with the motto "Ausjpi- 
do Senatus Anglice* Persia was represented an- 
ciently by a Ram, and Macedonia by a Goat, and 
the civil and military officials under those govern- 
ments were represented by young rams and young 
goats ; so the officials of India, or Eastern Tarshish, 
acting under the authority of the old Lion have 
adopted young lions as their symbol. " Tarshish 
with the young lions thereof" we may therefore 
reasonably conclude points to the Lion power of 
the Anglo-Indian Empire. 

Israelites. — These need no identification, as they 
are found in all parts of the world, and speak the 
languages of all nations. Possessed, too, of vast 
quantities of wealth, as well as increasing influence 
in the centres of government and commerce, they are 
destined to rise to a position of greater importance 
than any yet experienced by them since the Lord 
sent them into captivity on account of their sins. 

In concluding this chapter we think there need be 
but little if any question as to what powers and 
countries represent at the present time those enu- 
merated in Ezekiel's prophecy. It has been shown 
that Gog is a kingly name, belonging to a royal line, 
as "Pharoah" belonged to the Egyptian rulers. 

That Magog refers to the Scythians and Tartars, 
located North of the Caucasus, branching out to 
what is known as the Scythian country. 

That Ros, Rosh, or Rhos, refers to the Russians, 
located on the river Araxes, or Rosh. 



92 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

That Meshech was the father of the Muscovites, who 
occupied the country between Iberia and Armenia, 
and afterwards branched out to the North. 

That Tubal occupied territory adjoining Meshech, 
and on the North his descendants were known as 
the Tibareni, or Asiatic Iberians, locating in the 
Siberian countries, in and around Tobolsk. 

That all of the foregoing are located in what is 
now Russian territory, and are correctly represented 
by that great power to-day. 

Gog is not only the Emperor of the land and peo- 
ple of Magog, but he is also " prince of Ros (Rus- 
sia proper) Meshech, (Muscovy) and Tubal," (Tobol- 
ski). It is well known that Russia is an aggrandi- 
zing power, and has incorporated into her domain 
several kingdoms that were originally indepen- 
dent. In this way she has grown to enormous pro- 
portions, and is stretching out in all available 
directions. 

It has also been shown that Persia, Ethiopia and 
Libya, (the Northern part of Africa,) Gomer, (Ger- 
many,) and Togarmah, (the Eastern part of Asia 
Minor, and Russian and Independent Tartary,) are 
the ones named by the prophet as allies of Gog in 
his great expedition against the Holy Land. 

Opposed to these the names of Sheba, Dedan, and 
the Merchants of Tarshish are named, and it has 
been shown that these can be no other in our day 
than the British Power with her Eastern dependen- 
cies. 



THE DESTINY OF KITSSIA. 93 

Having thus outlined the present representatives 
of the powers named in the prophecy we are now 
prepared to consider in greater detail the prophecy 
itself. 



CHAPTER VTL 

THE PROPHECY EXPLAINED. 

At the very outset of this grand prophecy, our 
confidence in the exact fulfilment of every detail is 
inspired by the declaration that it is " the word of 
the Lord." Sooner may we expect the earth to stop 
its revolutions around the sun, or the whole vast 
universe to be instantly blotted out of existence, 
than that God's word shall fail. And what is the 
burden of this " word " that came unto Ezekiel ? 

As the representative of the Lord on earth for the 
time being, the Prophet is directed to set his face 
against Gog, thus declaring himself as an antagonist. 
That there may be no mistake as to who this Gog 
is, he is definitely pointed out as of the land of Ma- 
gog. Not only so, but he is further identified as 
being "the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal," 
which, as has been clearly shown, can refer, in our 
day, to no one else than he who is the prince, or 
chief of the Empire of Russia; an empire that now 
embraces within its vast domain all the countries 
desiguated. The instruction to Ezekiel, therefore, 
is equivalent to saying " direct thy face against the 
Emperor of all the Russias, and say, behold, I am 
against thee," etc. 



THE DESTINY OE RUSSIA. 95 

The message to this mighty Emperor is not one 
that is full of encouragement, but, instead, is full of 
woe. It begins by declaring that the Lord will turn 
him back and put hooks into his jaws, and draw him 
forth with all his army and allied forces, upon the 
mountains of Israel. 

In the thirty-ninth chapter the language is, "I 
will turn thee back and leave but the sixth part of 
thee ;" or, according to the marginal reading, " I 
will strike thee with six plagues," or, "draw thee 
back with an hook of six teeth." The hook in the 
jaws, referred to in the thirty-eighth chapter, is here 
explained to be one of six teeth, and the object for 
which it is inserted in his jaws is to draw him forth, 
— " draw him, or turn him back." 

The Hebrew word ^ftf shoov, signifies u to turn 
about, to turn back, to return, " hence it would seem 
that the Czar, at some time previous to the great in- 
vasion referred to in the prophecy, will have made a 
descent from his northern home, and returned again, 
but not to remain, for the Lord has declared that he 
must ' ' turn back, " or " return " from the North, 
but, as the sequel proves, to meet his doom. The 
hook of six teeth, (if we accept that rendering), is 
that which draws him forth, but what that hook rep- 
resents, we cannot, with certainty, determine — the 
event alone can decide. Some have supposed that it 
is fulfilled, and refers to the six allied powers who 
turned .Russia back in 1856, when she had set out 
with the avowed purpose of protecting the Holy Pla- 



96 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

ces in Jerusalem. But we think it refers rather to a 
turning back from the North to the South, seeing 
the hook, or bit in the jaw,* is for the purpose of 
drawing him back ; and, as the context shows, when 
so drawn, it is toward the land of Israel, from whence 
he never returns. 

Or, if we accept the other marginal reading "smite 
thee with six plagues," then we must believe that 
not only will he be drawn forth, but when so drawn, 
and located on the mountains of Israel, he and all 
his multitude will be smitten with six plagues, caus- 
ing their entire destruction. 

There are several points which must not be lost 
sight of in arriving at a correct understanding of this 
prophecy : — 

1 . The time of its fulfilment is subsequent to the 
time when Palestine shall have been brought back 
from the sword, and a considerable settlement effected 
of Jews who are rich in gold, silver, cattle and goods. 

2. That some arrangement will have been made 
whereby the Jews will be enabled to dwell in the 
land in apparent safety. 

3. That the event is still future, because no such 
restoration has ever taken place since the dispersion, 
neither has any such mighty invasion, for the pur- 
pose assigned, ever taken place. Again, it was not 
to be until "the latter days," or "latter years;" 

* The Hebrew word translated " hooks " refers to a kind of hook 
used for insertion into the noses of camels, buffaloes, bears, etc. , to 
render them subject to be led about. 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 97 

and he was to come against " the monntains of Israel 
which have always been waste ;" therefore subsequent 
to the desolate condition in which the land has been 
for so many centnries past, 

4. Another strong proof of its fulfilment being still 
future, consists in the fact that after the overthrow 
of the invading army, all the house of Israel are re- 
membered by the Lord, and know Him from that 
day forward. The Lord gathers them to their own 
land, pours His spirit upon them, and turns not His 
face from them any more ; all of which events are 
yet unaccomplished. 

In view of these facts we may rest assured that the 
recent movement of Russia against Turkey is not the 
one contemplated in the prophecy, seeing that the 
Holy Land is not yet brought back from the sword, 
neither is it settled with a wealthy class of Israelites, 
nor do we find the powerful alliance existing that 
Ezekiel describes. But we do discover a cord of 
sympathy existing between Germany and Russia, 
and a mutual understanding with Persia, which 
serves to indicate what the future course of these 
powers will be. We also find Turkey laid powerless 
at the feet of her antagonist, awaiting the decision of 
interested powers as to her future existence. We 
see likewise, the Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish power 
(England) appearing on the scene as the principal 
antagonist of Gog; and, by way of preparation for 
events that are clearly foreshadowed in prophecy, 
we see British interests gradually increasing in 



y» THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

Egypt, and ere long we may find that her influence 
in Palestine will far exceed that of any other power. 

That the outcome of the recent struggle between 
Russia and Turkey will eventuate in the liberation 
of the Holy Land from the galling yoke of the Mo- 
hammedan is more than probable, and thus a way 
be opened up for the return of the Jews. Indeed, 
it may be deemed expedient to encourage the estab- 
lishment of a Jewish kingdom in Palestine as a sort 
of barrier against Russian designs upon India. No 
power is so largely interested in a movement of this 
character as England. Therefore we may look for 
such a settlement of present complications as will 
pave the way for the fulfilment of the prophecy con- 
cerning Gog and his allies. After such an arrange- 
ment has been effected, we may expect Russia to 
withdraw for a season from the field, and proceed 
with the work of recuperation, preparatory to her 
last grand effort for the supremacy of the world. 

Having assured ourselves that the fulfilment of the 
prophecy is clearly in the future, we will now return 
to a consideration of its details. 

In describing the vast host who gather under the 
leadership of the Russian Czar, the prophet makes 
especial mention of there being many horses and 
horsemen, all of them clothed in all sorts of armor. 
It is a noteworthy fact that the Russian army is pos- 
sessed of vastly more horses than any other in the 
world ; and at the time spoken of, when fchey unite 
with their own armies the immense half civilized 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 99 

hordes from Northern Asia, together with those spe- 
cially mentioned, from Persia, Africa, and Germany, 
well may it be said they are clothed in all sorts of 
armor. Such a diversity will have rarely been seen, 
and perhaps such a marshaling of cavalry as will 
then take place, the world never before witnessed. 

That these armies are described as being equipped 
with bows, arrows, etc., proves nothing against their 
reference to modern nations, for the reason that the 
prophet describes them as they were equipped in his 
day, taking no note of subsequent changes, either of 
armaments, or names of countries and people.* 

The instruction to the Czar is, "Be thou ready, 
and prepare thyself, thou and all thy assemblages, 
that are assembled about thee, and be thou a guard 
unto them," or " a commander over them." There 
has been, for a number of years past, a growing ten- 
dency towards unification, hence Germany has ab- 
sorbed all her petty states, and organized a grand 
central government which controls the whole. So 
has Italy ; and, indeed, there is a probability that 

* It is a well-known fact, however, that bows and arrows, spears, 
swords, etc., have constituted a principal part of the armament of na- 
tions during the greater part of the period that has elapsed since the 
delivery of the prophecy, (nearly 2500 years ago), and that many of 
the tribes of Asia, who will form a large proportion of the multitude 
of Gog, are proficient in the use of such weapons at the present day; 
More civilized (?) nations, however, use breech-loading bows and 
arrows, and cannon-chariots, inventions of quite recent date. It is a 
matter of record, indeed, that as wise a man as Benjamin Franklin 
is reputed to have been, recommended to Congress a measure for the 
introduction of bows and arrows into the army of the United 8tates as 
a part of its equipment. 



100 THE DESTINY OF KTJSSIA. 

all the smaller states of Europe and Asia will yet be 
swallowed up by their giant neighbors. This gath- 
ering of forces points forward to a trial of strength 
by the giants themselves, with a view to the mastery 
of the world. When the season arrives for the ful- 
filment of the prophecy under consideration, this 
centralizing process will have reached its climax. It 
will be allowed to go no farther, until He whose 
right it is to reign, shall come to claim His kingdom, 
and begin His righteous rule. 

Ezekiel describes not only the vast realm of Persia, 
and all of Northern and Eastern Africa, as allied 
with Russia, but even Germany, with all her bands, 
will rally under the leadership of this mighty Auto- 
crat of the last days. The Czar will be commander 
over all the vast host, and will lead them forward 
"into the land that is recovering from the sword," — 
the land of Israel. The multitude of armed men 
seemed so great, in the eye of the prophet, that he 
describes them as " a cloud to cover the land;" and 
their impetuous movement is such as to cause him to 
describe it as a tempest— sudden and irresistable. 

The intent of the leader is to take a great spoil — in 
short, to rob the returned Israelites of their wealth 
of gold, silver, cattle and goods.* It is possible, and 

* It is a fact that the Jews exercise a controlling influence in the 
finances of the world. Their combined wealth is immense ; and when 
a movement is inaugurated for their return to Palestine, carrying their 
wealth with them, we can readily see what a temptation will be pre- 
sented to the avarice of the Russian Czar, to possess himself oi it. 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 101 

very probable, however, that he will have a further 
object in view, viz., the conquest of India, and that 
this immense host will be gathered for the purpose 
of a movement " omr " the land of Israel — spoiling 
the Jews by the way, as he presses forward to the 
East. This idea is suggested from the fact that it 
scarcely seems probable that so formidable an army 
would be gathered for the mere purpose of overcom- 
ing the insignificant company of Jews who will then 
be gathered in Palestine. On his movements becom- 
ing known, however, an interested party meets him 
on the way — a party described as "Sheba, Dedan, 
and the Merchants of Tarshish, with all the young 
lions thereof," (England), who propounds to him 
the inquiry, "art thou come to take a spoil?" etc. 
His intentions are divined by this antagonist, and a 
disposition to thwart his purposes at the outset is 
manifested. But, as the sequel shows, it is not per- 
mitted to any earthly power to overthrow this giant 
confederacy of the last days. Its doom will be 
sealed from on high. Its sudden overthrow will be 
the beginning of a revolution in the affairs of earth. 
Gog's coming had been heralded by the prophets, 
hence when he appears with his mighty host upon 
the sacred soil of Palestine, he is met with the ques- 
tion, " Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old 
time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which 
prophesied those days, many years, that I would 
bring thee against them ?" Every surrounding and 
circumstance proves that he is, indeed, the very 



102 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

same — the proud Assyrian of the latter days * — the 
one who " shall come in like a flood," but who shall 
be put to flight. f For nigh 2500 years the word of 
the Lord concerning him has been on record, yet 
how few believe it. If not actually set aside as a 
fable, it has been grossly perverted through the 
spiritualizing process of interpretation. But, now 
that the event is near at hand, and the way is being 
rapidly prepared for its actual fulfilment, the folly 
of these semi-infidels is manifest, and their worldly 
wisdom is utterly confounded. The grand workings 
of God's providence are seen in the forward move- 
ments of His enemies, for it is His purpose now to be 
glorified in their very overthrow. From Heaven it- 
self will descend the elements which shall destroy 
them. The Lord's fury comes up in His face; He is 
jealous for His people of Israel, and full of wrath 
against those who have come to despoil them. 

It appears that the great armies will be actually 
present upon the mountains and plains of Judea, all 
unsuspecting of what awaits them. In fact, judging 
from what we read in Zechariah xix. 1, 2, the city 
of Jerusalem will be taken, and the houses rifled, 
and the women ravished, and half of the city carried 
into captivity, before the Lord interferes. He does 
not destroy them whilst they only intend to despoil 
Israel, but waits until the overt act is committed. 
Then it is that the crisis is reached. Now shall the 

* Isaiah xxx. 27-33. f Isaiah lix. 19. 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 103 

Lord go forth and fight against those nations as 
when he fonght in the day of battle. The season 
of apparent non-interference in the affairs of men 
will have ended, and the Lord will break forth in 
indignation npon the assembled hosts of Gog, The 
time will have come for the infliction of the ' ' six 
plagnes " which He declared He should strike Him 
with, viz.: 1. Pestilence; 2. Blood; 3. A sweeping 
rain; 4. Vast hailstones; 5. Fire; 6. Brimstone. 
The Lord, when talking with Job, over 4000 years 
ago, referred to this day of tronble, and spoke of the 
implements of His warfare as being even then stored 
np. He asks : ' ' Hast thou entered into the treasures 
of the snow ? or hast thou seen the treasures of the 
hail which I have reserved against the day of battle 
and war?" * 

The grand drama will apparently be inaugurated 
by a terrible earthquake, one that will shake not 
only the earth, but the sea also ; yea, the mountains 
shall be thrown down, and every living thing on the 
face of the land, and even the fishes of the sea will 
experience the fearful convulsions of this great and 
mighty earthquake. 

Zechariah says it shall result in cleaving in two 
the Mount of Olives from East to West, and half of 
the mountain shall be removed to the North, and the 
other half to the South, leaving a great valley be- 
tween. He also says it shall be a day known to the 
Lord, " not day nor night, but it shall come to pass 

* Job xxxviii. 22, 23. 



104 THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 

that at evening time it shall be light." The electric 
disturbance of that day will be something extraordi- 
nary — a day never to be forgotten, ' ' The light shall 
not be clear nor dark." The Douay version says: 
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that there 
shall be no light, but cold and frost." 

The terrible " six plagues " with which the allied 
hosts will be stricken, will probably overtake them 
in the order named in the prophecy. First, "pesti- 
lence." The original word, thus translated, is n^^T 
deliver, and signifies " destruction, death; hence 
plague, pestilence, murrain among beasts, " etc. The 
nature of the pestilence or plague is not specified ; 
but Zechariah is explicit upon this point, and uses 
the word q^^ nahgapTi, "a stroke, blow; a spot, 
mark, blemish, whether eruption, scab or leprosy." 
And in further defining the nature of the stroke 
which will overtake them, he says : "This shall be 
the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite all the 
people that have fought against Jerusalem : their 
flesh shall consume away while they stand upon 
their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in 
their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in 
their mouth." A most dreadful disease, truly ; its 
effect being to produce blindness and speechlessness 
among the assembled thousands of Gog. Need we 
wonder, then, that "it shall come to pass in that 
day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be 
among them ; and they shall lay hold every one on 
the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up 



THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 105 

against the liand of his neighbor ?" * Or, as Ezekiel 
predicts, that " every man's hand shall be pointed 
against his brother. " A mutnal slaughter will ensne, 
resnlting in a fulfilment of the second plague — blood, 
or " blood-shedding," as one translator has it. 

The four remaining plagues, it appears, will then 
be visited upon the confused and affrighted multi- 
tudes in quick succession — a sweeping rain setting 
in, which culminates in a dreadful shower of vast 
hailstones, rolling fire and brimstone. This terrible 
storm may be the same as that referred to in Revela- 
tion xvi. 21, where, in conjunction with an earth- 
quake "such as was not since men were upon the 
earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great," there 
is a great hailstorm from heaven, in which every 
stone is about the weight of a talent (114 lbs). A 
similar visitation once came upon Egypt as a plague 
upon Pharoah. " The Lord sent thunder and hail, 
and the fire ran along upon the ground . . so there 
was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very griev- 
ous, such as there was none like it in all the land of 
Egypt since it became a nation. "f 

Again, when the allied armies of the five Amorite 
kings fled from before Israel, "the Lord cast down 
great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, 
and they died ; they were more which died with 
hailstones than they whom the children of Israel 
slew with the sword."J 

* Zech. xiv. 13. f Exodus ix. 23, 24. % Joshua x. 11. 



106 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

Thus we see that the plagues which will overtake 
Gog and his allies on the plains and mountains of 
Israel will not be new, but are such as have previ- 
ously been inflicted. They may and no doubt will 
exceed in terror everything that has preceded them. 

Such a scene as is depicted by the prophets Eze- 
kiel and Zechariah no one can fully comprehend. 
Opening with a darkened heaven, dark even to 
blackness, followed by an earthquake that will ex- 
ceed anything the world ever experienced, and this 
succeeded by a rapidly consuming plague which 
will eat out eyes, tongue and flesh while the men 
still stand upon their feet; then a wild tumult, all 
military order and discipline gone, — even the many 
horses that accompany the expedition being visited 
with the consuming plague, and of course rendered 
unmanageable, what a terrible scene must ensue 
under such circumstances! But as if this were not 
enough, the pent up treasures of rain, hail, fire and 
brimstone, which, like a death pall, has been hang- 
ing over them in the darkened heavens, are now 
poured out in dreadful fury upon their ungodly 
heads, the storm gathering in intensity until every 
man and every beast of that immense multitude 
are offered up as a sacrifice to the birds and wild 
beasts of the field, who are invited to feed upon their 
carcasses. Thus ends the mightiest invasion the 
world has ever seen. Thus also will the Lord 
make Himself known in all the earth, but pri- 
marily to His people Israel. " Thus will I magnify 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA., 107 

myself, and sanctify myself," says the Lord, " and 
I will be known in the eyes of many nations; and 
they shall know that I am the Lord." 

What an excitement will be produced in every 
part of the world when the news of this terrible 
catastrophe is flashed over the wires ! What gla- 
ring head-lines will appear in the news columns of 
the daily press! what various ways there will be oi 
accounting for it; and what speculations our wise 
editors will indulge in as to the future political 
prospects of the powers specially concerned ! Can 
we imagine that one of them will be able to give 
their readers the true reason for such a wholesale 
overthrow of one of the grandest and most powerful 
armies the world has ever seen? Perhaps not. But 
whether they can or not matters but little, for it 
will be brought to their comprehension shortly 
afterwards in a way that no one can mistake, for the 
dashing to pieces of Gog's multitude will be but 
the beginning of a new era in the government of 
the world. The prophet Zechariah tells us that 
when the great earthquake shall cleave asunder the 
Mount of Olives, the Lord's feet shall stand upon 
it once more. And after describing the effect of the 
earthquake, he tells us that "the Lord my God 
shall come, and all the saints with thee." Thus we 
see that the resurrection of the dead (those who fell 
asleep in Christ), will have taken place previously 7 
and of course the change to immortality of the liv- 
ing, and the removal of the whole band to meet the 



108 THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 

Lord in the air will also have passed; and when the 
allied forces of Gog meet wrth their overthrow in 
Israel's land, then it is that the Lord shall descend 
from heaven in power and great glory — then shall 
He come with ten thousand of His saints from 
heaven, and execute judgment upon His enemies. * 
And Zechariah adds that from thenceforth "the 
Lord shall be King over all the earth ; in that day 
shall there be one Lord and His name one." 

The magnitude of the host that will be slain on 
the mountains of Israel may be divined when we 
remember that those who dwell in the cities of 
Israel will gather together a sufficiency of imple- 
ments of war to serve them as fuel for seven years, 
so as to obviate all necessity of procuring wood 
from field or forest. And the house of Israel will 
be occupied for seven months in burying the mighty 
host in a valley selected for the purpose. 

Having destroyed utterly this giant enemy of 
Israel, the Lord declares "now will I bring again 
the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the 
wliole house of Israel." These who had been previ- 
ously gathered in the holy land were a rich and 
prosperous people, returned from the land that was 
recovering from the sword, but they did not com- 
prise the whole house of Israel. They were a rem- 
nant who had settled in the midst (or navel) of the 
land; in the highest part of it; or in the neighbor- 

* 1 Cor. xv. 51-54; 1 Thess. iv. 13-17; Jude 14, 15; Zech. xiv. 3-9. 



THE DESTINY OF EUSSIA. 109 

hood of Jerusalem. But when the whole house of 
Israel is gathered they will occupy not only the 
midst of the land but will scarcely find room for 
their numbers in the land itself. * 

* Isaiah xlix. 19, 20. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The long cherished hope of Israel, of returning 
one day to the land of their fathers, will at last be 
realized. Their expectation of meeting also the 
promised Messiah will also be fulfilled; but oh how 
differently from what they expected. Like the 
brethren of Joseph, who found in him whom they 
had virtually slain, a Savior from death, at a time 
when deliverance was shut out from every other 
source, they will find in Jesus, whom they slew, a 
Savior, when nothing but overwhelming destruction 
presents itself. And it may be, that, like those of 
old, who, on discovering their brother in such pow- 
er and glory, and knowing of their previous con- 
duct towards him, expected a visitation of wrath, 
so these of the latter days, on discovering that their 
great deliverer is none other than He with the pierc- 
ed side and wounded hands, whom their fathers 
slew, will expect judgment instead of mercy: but 
as Joseph fell on the necks of his brethren and for- 
gave all, so Jesus will graciously forgive the treat- 
ment He has received, and restore them to His favor 
again. " Then shall they know that I am the Lord 
their God which caused them to be led into captiv- 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. Ill 

ity among the heathen; but I have gathered them 
into their own land, and left none of them any 
more there; neither will I hide my face any more 
from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon 
the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." "The 
Redeemer" having then " come out of Zion," will 
also "turn away ungodliness from Jacob." The 
" blindness in part which happened unto Israel 
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" will 
have passed away, and " so all Israel shall be 
saved." * 

We might go on multiplying texts by the hun- 
dred upon this subject of Israel's future restoration 
and glory, but we forbear, believing that sufficient 
have been already adduced to lead those who have 
a disposition to do so, to investigate the word of the 
Lord concerning it. 

With reference to the destiny of Russia, Ger- 
many, Persia and Africa, after the terrible annihi- 
lation of their combined forces in Palestine, the 
scriptures are explicit, that not only these king- 
doms, but all others on the face of the earth, 
including even this proud but distracted Republic 
of ours, will bow submissively to the rule of Him 
whose law shall go forth from Zion, and whose word 
will go forth from Jerusalem, even He whose descent 
with His saints upon Mount Olivet will be accom- 
plished at the time of Gog's overthrow. He it is 
that " shall judge among many people and rebuke 

* Romans xi. 25, 26. 



112 THE DESTINY OF BUSSIA. 

strong nations afar off," and, as a result, " they 
shall beat their swords into plowshares and their 
spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
any more." * 

That oft repeated prayer, u Thy kingdom come, 
thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" will 
then be answered — the kingdom will have come, 
and the Lord's will be supremely executed in all 
the earth. " All kings shall fall down before Him; 
all nations shall serve Him." f 

" The earthly centre of this glorious kingdom of 
righteousness aud peace as already intimated will 
be Jerusalem. While all the nations of the earth 
will be blessed and happy, the highest position 
among them will be accorded to that people who 
have been more than all others, trodden down and 
oppressed; yea, who have suffered thus as the right- 
eous judgment of God upon them for the rejection 
of their King and Lord. But the place of greatest 
dignity and glory will be given to those who, in the 
present interval between the sufferings of Christ 
and His return in gl ory , have shared the fellowship 
of His sufferings, in hope of His return. This is 
the church's place." 

And now in conclusion, let us speak a word of 
warning to those of our readers, who are still 
unconverted. We beg of you not to be deceived, 

* Micali iv. 2, 3. f Psalm lxxii. 



THE DESTINY OF RUSSIA. 113 

nor dream of an intervening millennium before the 
coming of Christ to judge the earth. There will 
be no such thing. No one can assure you that the 
day of His appearing to take away His saints is at 
any great distance. Indeed His manifestation in 
glory with His saints cannot be said to be very far 
off. The day of trouble such as there never was 
since there was a nation even to that same time * 
appears to be rapidly approaching. For aught you 
know, your eyes may behold its terrors. Within 
the period of your natural life its thunders may 
burst upon your ears, and its solemnities cause 
your hearts to quake. Unless you embrace the 
Savior, who is still presented to you; unless your 
hearts are opened to believe the tidings of His 
mercy, and take refuge in His open arms, on you 
as yet alive, the terrors of the day of God may fall. 
Delay not to flee to Jesus, He is the ark of safety 
that will outride the coming storm. Oh that you 
might be led to seek refuge in Him, Oh that this 
precious covert may enclose you all ! 

And to you, dear brethren in Christ, let us say a 
parting word of warning. The character of the 
times we are living in is such as to require constant 
watchfulness on the part of each of us. Evil men 
and seducers wax worse and worse. Infidelity both 
open and covert is on the increase, and the lamp of 
faith burns very low. We need more than ever to 

* Daniel xii., Matt. xxiv. 21. 



114 THE DESTINY OF KUSSIA. 

frequently approach our Father in Heaven, and 
make known our petitions to Him, leaning upon 
His mighty strength in our own weakness. We 
must be truly separate from the surroundings and 
prevailing evil. Our place is to stand aloof, and to 
wait watchfully for the coming of our Lord. 
" With the struggles that are taking place around 
us we are not to meddle. The quarrels of earthly 
powers are not our quarrels. We may look on, in- 
deed, for our God has thrown His own light upon 
them in His word. But while we look thereon with 
deep sorrow, it is not our place to interfere. Our 
work is happier work. We have to manifest, in 
deed and word, the truth, the love, the grace of Him 
for whom we look and long and wait. Our weapons 
are not carnal. The potsherds of the earth may 
strive with the potsherds of the earth. They may 
plot and counter-plot; they may scheme and coun- 
ter-scheme; but we know how it will all end. We 
have been told before. 

The crisis hastens. The revolutions will be sud- 
den and momentous. We know not what a day or 
an hour may bring forth. Where to place the 
translation of the church to meet her Lord, we 
know not. It may be the very first stage of the 
crisis. Perhaps it will be so. Are we ready for it? 
The Lord grant that it may be so with each one of 
us I" Amen. 



APPENDIX. 



The following article appeared as an editorial in The Israelite, a 
Jewish paper, published at Cincinnati, O. in May, 1877. The editor 
unfortunately has adopted what are known as the Reform Yiews of 
Israel, which, in brief, amount to an abandonment of the hope so long 
held, of the coming of a personal Messiah, to redeem this ancient 
people, and instead it is expected that all the good things promised 
are to be realized through the natural progression of the age. This- 
will account for the fears expressed by the editor (Dr. Wise) concern- 
ing the advance of a blighting power like Russia, when the prosperity 
of Israel " depends on the progress of liberty and justice." 

We have reason to believe that the time is not far distant, when the 
veil that is over the Doctor's eyes will be suddenly removed, and he,, 
with all others of the nation of Israel, will behold Him who was. 
promised — the Messiah ; but before that time, they will meet with 
some bitter disappointments and pass through deep waters of afflic- 
tion. Let us not forget to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 

GOG UMAGOG. 

The political regeneration of Western and Central Europe, between 
1790 and 1875, has overcome the absolutism of State and Church to 
the extent of having limited the royal and imperial powers by consti- 
tutions, laws and parliaments, popular elections and public opinion,, 
centering and assuming shape and form in the popular press ; and 
having deprived the Church of her temporal power and political 
importance. There is left enough of feudal privileges, royal and 



116 APPENDIX. 

imperial prerogatives, ecclesiastical powers, and official supremacy for 
another century to overcome, before there will be a state of tolerable 
justice for the common man, and the military despotism will be super 
ceded by a government of law. Still a vast amount of work has been 
done in that direction, and there is a fair prospect that those nations 
will not come to rest until the rights of man shall be completely 
restored and secured. 

One must be blind, however, and very much so, if he sees not that 
all these revolutions and reforms have not changed the Kussian 
government. There is yet the same unrestrained absolutism on the 
throne as it was a century ago, and the man on the throne is also the 
pope of all the million* of Greek Catholic professors of Europe and 
Asia, with a power which the Pope of Rome never possessed. One 
pope has been dethroned, another is rising and exerting his supposed 
rights over his subjects in Turkey. Protestants and Catholics hate 
each other intensely ; therefore they watch each other jealously, and 
are always ready to curtail each other's power. Between the two a 
new political state of affairs could grow up and supersede them both. 
There is no Protestant element, no opposition of much weight in 
Russia against the Emperor-Pope's absolutism with his autocratic 
and theocratic powers to which one hundred millions of people are 
subjected directly or indirectly. Outside of the Russian Empire, the 
Greek Catholics of Austria, small in number anyhow, are given up 
as stray sheep. But there is one opposition to Russia's absolute power 
over those hundred millions of people, and the further progress of it, 
and that is the Islam with its Sultan. Hitherto this has been the 
insurmountable barrier to the Pope at St. Petersburgh. You drive 
out the Turks of Europe, and the situation is suddenly changed. You 
have a pope at St. Petersburg who is in possession of absolute power 
over one hundred millions of people, one-half of which belong to 
half-civilized nationalities, like the shepherds of Bosnia and Herze- 
govina, the hunters and fishermen of Montenegria, the Cossacks on the 
Don River, the trappers in the Ural Mountains, and the frosted hordes 
of Siberia. Here you have a state of the Middle Ages reproduced in 
1877 as completely as could possibly be made. Next the crusades 
come. Let Russia overthrow the Islam in Europe, and the crusades 
are before the door of Central and Western Europe. 



APPENDIX. 117 

fi3H?in?"l£irill3!£fa- " From the North cometh the evil over 
all the inhabitants of the earth," said the prophet Jeremiah, and this 
appears to be verified once more. Civilized Europe has but one ene- 
my to fear, and that is Russia, which might stop it in its onward 
march. It has the power and the will to do it. It is the Gog Umagog 
of the Jewish legend, of whom it is said that the Messiah could not 
reign until Gsg Umagog shall be slain upon the mountains of Israel. 
The Islam is no better and no worse than the Greek Catholic Church, 
but they are each other's efficient opposition, and so they are benefi- 
cial to humanity. The Turk has yielded and proclaimed a constitu- 
tion on the basis of equality, and Russia is yet the fortress of uncom- 
promising absolutism. 

Russia is traditionally IT 1 fHlDbfa Malchuth Yavan or Ivan, 
which has never benefited any race, never shown mercy to any people. 
Turkey is traditional Eft "JDH "Obfa b&falEP "Obfa. Ishmael, 
and " the kings of Ishmael are gracious kings," who have benefited- 
many, and shown mercy to the oppressed in a thousand instances. 
Take away the Turk from ike Russian frontiers, and Europe is in dan- 
ger to be overpowered by barbarian hordes from the Northern forests, 
fighting for the Greek cross against the Roman cross and Protestant 
heretics as wildly and fanatically as the crusaders did for the suppo- 
sed holy sepulchre. 

If American politicians and statesmen can not see this, it is, perhaps, 
because they are ignorant of Russia. They travel, go through Mos- 
cow, St. Petersburg, and a few more cities, converse with aristocrats, 
and leave the country as ignorant as they entered it. They know the 
last will of Peter the Great, but know not that it is to-day the key-note 
of Russian policy as it was then. They judge Russia by America, but 
in America the policy changes, because its government is the popular 
one ; in Russia the same family with the same prejudices, traditions 
and interests since Peter the Great is still in power, and pursues the 
same policy precisely. American politicians and statesmen are excu- 
sable if they are ignorant of Russia, as our ambassadors to foreign 
courts are mostly ignorant of the language and history of the country 
to which they go, and are recalled before they can learn much besides 
the aristocratic tone and manners. In Europe this state of affairs 



118 APPENDIX. 

must be well known to thousands of unprejudiced thinkers ; but 
many of the statesmen in power are too wicked or too impotent to im- 
press it on the minds. Some of them like to see a strong barrier set up 
to the progressive tendencies of Central and Western Europe steering 
rapidly into universal democracy, against which a powerful Russia is 
the best antidote ; and among those " some " there are the emperors, 
kings, princes, and the whole host of high-born men and women, 
whose echoes and slaves reach into all strata of society. Some are poi- 
soned and blindfolded by religious prejudices against the Islam, and 
among them the ecclesiastical dignitaries, especially in Protestant 
countries. Again, others like to see a war anyhow and anywhere. 
They have been drilled as soldiers with false conceptions of honor and 
right, and delight in a fight, as do our rowdies. If Russia wins, they 
will worship Russia ; if the Turk wins, they will worship him no 
less. With them the fight is the object of man's existence, and the 
success in a fight is the highest demonstration of humanity and divi- 
nity. These plagues of society abound everywhere, only that in the 
aristocratic circles they wear sabres and spurs. Again, others like to 
see a war somewhere to make money out of it, as the picaroons of 
stranding ships. This sort of civilized waylayers abound in all parte 
of the world. Take together all these classes, the rulers, the soldiers,, 
the high nobility and the money bags, and you find it quite natural 
that Europe is betrayed on this occasion again. 

This war, in our estimation, is the beginning of a new era of reaction 
in the political affairs of Europe. However it will end, it will enlarge 
the Russian power, and thus strengthen the barriers set up against pro- 
gress which many European statesmen wish to see. Every retrogres- 
sion terrifies us in behalf of humanity, and in behalf of Israel, whose- 
prosperity depends on the progress of liberty and justice, and is threat- 
ened by every retrogression. 



THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH. 

Says the American Presbyterian: — 

"Everything seems to make ready for no common crisis, no ordinary issue. 
„ . . . Statesmen's hearts literally fail them for fear of the things coming on 
the earth at the present hour. " 

Says the Protestant Churchman: — 

"Till the glorious coming of the Savior, we may anticipate nothing but suc- 
cessive overturnings of men and earthly things. 11 

Says George C. Needham, the Irish Evangelist : — 

"I believe the thousands of scattered christians whose hearts have grasped 
this truth, will be heard declaring as with united voice, The Lord is at hand. 
They can no longer keep silence. This truth proclaimed in the Spirit's power 
will save the Church from shipwreck. 11 

Says Henry Varley, another Evangelist: — 

"We are near the end of this dispensation. . . . The coming of the Lord 
m the clouds, to take His Church to be with Himself, is the christian's hope. 
O, to be ready! In the Masters name I tell you be ready. I charge you to pre- 
pare for His coming. 11 

Says Rev. Samuel Garratt: — 

"We are living in the very age towards which all eyes have been directed as 
those of the closing days of the Church's conflict as long ago as the days of 
Luther. 11 

Says Dwight L. Moody: — 

"I believe He is yonder, getting His guest-chamber ready, and the moment it 
"is ready, those clouds shall roll away and He shall come, and we shall be caught 
up together to meet the Lord in the air.. So there may be some in this audience 
who may never taste death.' 1 

Says Rev. Ci H. Spurgeon: — 

. "I am afraid we cannot hope for much better times until the Lord Jesus 
Christ comes a second time. Often do I cheer myself with the thought of His 
coming. The shout shall be heard, Allelujah! allelujah! the Lord God Omnipo- 
tent reigneth ! For that day do I look; it is to the bright horizon of that second 
coming that I turn my eyes. 11 

Says the Christian Statesman, in a late number: — ■ 

" Great changes in the map of Europe seem to be impending. That they can 
be accomplished without war on a still larger scale seems altogether unlikely. 
Long cherished expectations of believing students of prophecy seem to be near- 
ing their fulfillment. 11 

Our Lord's Second Corning is a subject that is occupying much of 
the attention of both ministers and laymen in Great Britain ; and in 
this country, too, the Church is becoming more than ever awakened 
to a thorough examination of the teaching concerning it. 

OUR REST is a journal whose columns contain articles from the 
ablest pens in this and other countries upon this and other subjects, 
and its terms are wiihin the reac & of all. See advertisement. 



Our Rest: 



A MONTHLY PERIODICAL DEVOTED TO AN EXPOSITION OF THE 

BE CENT DISCOVERIES, SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS, 

IN THE 

GKEATP YRAMID OF EGYPT, 

ALSO THE GREAT TRUTHS CONNECTED WITH 

THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

TERMS : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, SINGLE NUMBERS TEN CENTS. 

Prof. Blazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scot- 
land, says : 

" I hail with pleasure the appearance of your journal, Our Rest, 
devoted, first, to the central subject of all Christianity, the Second 
Coming of our Lord ; and secondly, the partly attendant sign and 
witness foretold by Isaiah, the Great Pyramid in, but not of Egypt. 

Your woodcuts, both large and small, appear to be admirable, and 
your commencement of the literaay part of the subject all that it 
should be." 

Each Number is Illustrated. 

Address all communications and subscriptions to 

THOMAS WILSON", Publisher, 

188 East Monroe St., Chicago, 111. 

In Press, and shortly to be publis7ied, 
A NEW ILLUSTRATED BOOK, ENTITLED 

A KEY TO THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT. 

This will be the only copiously illustrated work upon the subject 
ever issued in the United States, and as illustrations are absolutely ne- 
cessary in order to a proper understanding of the subject, we may add 
that it is the only work that will give the reader a proper conceptions 
of this grand and growing theme. 

Price, Paper covers, 50 cts., Cloth, 75 cts. 

Send orders and remittances to 

THOMAS WILSON, Publisher, 

188 East Monroe St., Chicago, 111. 



H 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



